You're Mine
by SilverKitsune2017
Summary: Advances in genetic engineering created hybrids. Hybrids had some physical and psychological animal traits. Naruto was a lion hybrid. One day he helped to shut down an illegal fighting ring. That's when he saw a stunning lion hybrid called Sasuke. One look at the fighter and the blonde had only one thought on his mind, "You're mine." Now he just had to convince Sasuke of that.
1. Chapter 1

You're Mine

Author's Note: This is a YAOI story. That means a male x male romantic pairing. If that offends you, you might want to turn back now. This is also an animal hybrid story. For those of you familiar with things like nekos, kitsunes, inus, etc it's like that. If you aren't familiar with the concept a hybrid is person with animal features (usually ears, tail, personality traits, and sometimes physical traits.) My hybrids can also turn into their animal form. ^^ For all those that don't mind that, I hope you enjoy this story. All reviews are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and make no profit off this story.

Educational Fact: Male African lions weigh 300 to 500 lbs. (120 to 226 kg), according to google. So yeah, it's possible that Naruto is 10-20 pounds heavier in animal form.

Chapter One

Sasuke was a hybrid. A hybrid was a human who had animal D.N.A. Hybrids typically possessed some animal features and sometimes personality traits. They were also able to transform into their animal counterpart for short periods of time. Hybrids were a diverse group. You had everything from insect hybrids all the way to elephant hybrids.

Yeah, Sasuke had trouble wrapping his mind around elephant hybrids as well. Fortunately, for the elephant hybrids, it just meant they were much bigger than the average human, had unusually large ears, and a trunk instead of a nose. That and their memory and physical strength was insane. Fortunately, their size made them slow.

Why was Sasuke pondering elephant hybrids so much at the moment? He was currently facing one in the Arena. The Arena was also known as Hell on Earth, amongst his fellow captives.

"If you yield, I won't kill you." Sasuke says in his lion form. (A large black furred African Lion.)

"You know if I do that, they'll kill me anyway." The elephant hybrid says, as he barrels towards the lion, also in his animal form.

"It was worth a shot. I'm not going to die here today!" He snarls and charges at him.

"I wasn't planning on it either." The elephant named Jugo says sadly.

That was when a loud boom went off. Sasuke and the elephant stopped in their tracks, stunned. It was a cannon, a warning shot from Konoha. Konoha was a member of the Five Great nations.

Each nation had played a role in the creation of hybrids. There were of course laws about hybrids. Fighting them for profit was strictly forbidden. But it still went on. There was a huge black market to watch hybrid fights. The modern version of dogfights.

"Do you think we are really saved?" Jugo asks Sasuke.

"I don't know." Sasuke says looking up as some planes hover overhead.

People begin dropping out of the planes, using parachutes. There had to be dozens of them. Most of them were hybrids. Some were humans, but all of them were packing major heat. Suddenly, one of the planes broadcasted a message throughout the stadium.

 _ **"This is Konoha's Rookie Nine Division. You are in direct violation of Rule 132 of the Hybrid Protection Act. Surrender peacefully and no one needs to get hurt. The owner of this operation is to turn himself or herself in within the next ten minutes peacefully or face risk forfeiting their life. All hybrids if you are able to move, please start to proceed into the Arena and form orderly lines. You will be taken to HQ, where you will be evaluated to see where you will be placed."**_ Someone says.

The elephant moves behind Sasuke. It looked like they would be first in line. Sasuke could see the hybrids that weren't in their cells and those who were mobile starting to rush towards the Arena. Shit! This wasn't going to end well. People were going to be crushed to death.

 _ **"All hybrids please proceed in an ORDERLY fashion. Everyone is going to be escorted to H.Q. There is no need to rush the Arena and trample each other."**_ The voice calls out.

Sasuke hears the elephant breath a sigh of relief. The lion hybrid realizes he had stopped breathing, while bracing himself for the stampede. He lets out the breath he was holding. Thankfully the message apparently worked. The hybrids were walking towards the Arena now, instead of running.

After a few minutes, several long lines had formed. Each line was greeted by one of the "Rookie Nine." His "Rookie" appeared to be an insect hybrid, a very quiet one. That was fine by him.

"I am Shino. Follow me." He orders as he leads them outside the stadium.

Once outside in the distance, he could see some cars approaching. Lots of them. So that was how they planned to move the hundreds of hybrids.

"You're being watched." The elephant hybrid murmurs.

Sasuke looked to see what the elephant was talking about. Then he noticed it. It was another Rookie. This one was a lion hybrid like him. He was in his human form.

Sasuke could see his tail flicking attentively and his furry ears on high alert. He was tall, easily taller than Sasuke's own respectable six feet. He was blonde with the most vivid blue eyes Sasuke had ever seen, like sapphires. He had sun kissed skin and Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how far that tan extended. He was also powerfully built. Yeah, he lived up to that whole _King of the Jungle_ thing. This man would have been a challenge in the ring.

"Thanks. Sasuke," He murmurs to the elephant hybrid, offering him his name.

"You're welcome. Jugo." He replies, returning the favor.

Naruto had volunteered to go on the rescue mission. He couldn't believe that illegal hybrid fights were still going on. Hybrids shouldn't be forced to fight to the death for people's entertainment and profit.

"Damn they had an elephant going up against a lion." Naruto says to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was a sloth hybrid. He was highly intelligent and a master tactician. But boy was he lazy. It wasn't his fault though. He was a sloth after all.

"They must have wanted to kill the lion badly. That's a death sentence since they were fighting in their animal forms." The sloth hybrid says.

"I don't think so. The way the elephant is carrying himself makes me think he expected to lose that fight." Naruto muses.

He wasn't just saying that because he was a proud lion hybrid and knew lions kicked ass. The body postures had shown that the elephant had resigned himself to his fate. That elephant thought he was going to die.

"If you are forced to fight long enough, you eventually go crazy. He probably figured he'd go down fighting." Shikamaru reasons.

Naruto couldn't help but look at the other lion. Clearly the other lion was male. He had an impressive silky black mane that would be the envy of most lions. His mane was darker than his fur. When the sunlight hit his fur just right, there was a slight navy blue tint to it. His eyes were red like rubies.

He was all sleek muscle. He was large for a lion hybrid in his animal form. But Naruto was pleased to say he probably had an extra 10-20 pounds of muscle on him. But Naruto was considered massive for his breed.

"Maybe. God, I hope he gets put in our unit." Naruto states.

"What a drag." Shikamaru says with a sigh.

"What's a drag?" The blonde asks.

"You are. Look I get that you prefer men. That's fine. I'm cool with that. Whatever gets you going. But he's been a fighter for who knows how long. It's quite possible the only life he remembers is one where he has had to fight to survive every time he gets in that ring. He's likely extremely aggressive. He's probably far more likely to try to rip your dick off than suck it." Shikamaru states bluntly.

"Ouch! Jeez you really know how to kill the mood!" The blonde huffs.

"Just pointing out the reality. First of all, you don't even know if he likes lions, lionesses, or both. Secondly, he's a trained killer Naruto." The lazy hybrid continues.

"Yeah. But so are we." The lion states undeterred.

"True. But we only kill as a last resort. This guy kills because he has to. He might even enjoy it for all we know." Shikamaru points out.

"Guess we'll find out." Naruto responds.

"Don't do anything stupid," The sloth warns him.

Eventually, all the hybrids get put into cars. A few hours later, they arrive at the base. Sasuke gets separated from Jugo. A fact that he wasn't entirely pleased about.

The dark lion had never had friends. Making friends that you might end up facing in mortal combat, was a dumb idea. But the elephant had seemed tolerable. Now he was alone again. Always alone.

"There's no way in Hell, I'm getting naked!" Sasuke informs the medic.

The medic was a flamingo hybrid. Not that Sasuke particularly cared what species she was. But seriously, pink hair? But he digressed.

She wanted him to change to his humanoid form, so she could check for injuries and run some tests. He was not getting naked. Sasuke was never going to leave himself vulnerable to attack by stripping down.

"I'm a professional. I just want to make sure there aren't any outward or internal injuries. There's really no need to be bashful." She states.

"I'm not bashful. I'm just not stupid enough to expose my vital spots to you or anyone." Sasuke growls.

"You are going to be difficult." She says as a matter of fact, more than a question.

"I'm going to be impossible. You can get any ideas you have about inspecting me without my clothes on, out of your head!" He snarls.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto asks and comes rushing in having heard the sounds of an argument.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The patient is just being difficult about finishing the exam. He didn't hurt me!" The pinkette reassures Naruto.

"Oh. Is it the blood work? A lot of the rescues are fussing about that. I can't blame them though! I know that I HATE having blood work done." The blonde says.

"No. He just doesn't want to get naked. I can't check to see if he has any injuries under his clothes, if he doesn't." The Flamingo says.

"Oh well considering, what he's been through, I can understand the wariness." Naruto replies.

"Naruto, you aren't helping!" Sakura hisses.

"Hey. It's alright. Look we are both lions. Lions look out for each other. I'll stay here and make sure she doesn't try anything if it makes you feel better." The blonde offers to Sasuke.

"Do you have any idea how many other lion hybrids have tried to rip my throat out?" Sasuke demands with a snarl.

"Ouch. Alright. Maybe the whole sticking together thing wasn't big at the Arena. It's different here though. You'll see. We saved you, didn't we? You trusted us enough to come along, without protesting." Naruto tries to reason with him.

Sasuke had to admit the blonde had a point. He still didn't like it though. It went against every instinct he had.

"Yes, I did. Only because whatever you had planned for us, couldn't possibly have been worse than what life was like there." He replies.

"Well it's a start. At least you admit that you know you are safer here. Just take off your clothes. I'll make sure she doesn't try anything. Sakura's trustworthy. She'd never harm a patient." He continues.

"Like she could harm me. She's a fucking flamingo!" Sasuke scoffs.

"Then what are you so afraid of?" Naruto asks.

"…Good point." Sasuke says with a sigh and changes to his human form.

"That's better," Naruto says approvingly.

Now Naruto got to see what the dark haired lion looked like when he was in his humanoid form. Damn, he was even more gorgeous this way. He was a little shorter than Naruto, but still on the tall side. He had midnight black hair that was spiked in the back. His eyes were even more beautiful in this form, a smoldering ruby red. He was fair skinned, really fair skinned. Ironic he'd been fighting an elephant type, when he had ivory colored skin.

"For a fighter, you don't have many scars." Sakura observes, as Sasuke had transformed back naked.

The pinkette was trying to be a professional. But it was difficult not to notice his OTHER tail. Still she quickly gets the blood and skin samples, along with the measurements.

"Well it looks like surprisingly you are perfectly healthy. You could do with a few decent meals though. You are a little under weight. About five pounds or so," she informs him.

' "I don't have many scars because I won all my fights early. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be here." He states in a way that clearly implied, _Don't fuck with me._

He was starving. But he wasn't going to admit that. Admitting you wanted or needed something was just asking for it. You never knew what price you'd have to pay in order to get what you needed. His stomach did it for him however, as it growled.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat." The blonde says.

"Naruto, he can't just walk around naked. At least let him get some clothes on first!" Sakura screeches.

"Oh yeah. As much as I love the view, she's got a point." He says to Sasuke.

Naruto, aka the blonde as Sasuke had dubbed him, reaches into a drawer. He pulls out a pair of pants and a t-shirt. The blue eyed lion hybrid tosses them at Sasuke.

"They should fit." He tells Sasuke.

Sasuke wasn't about to protest. Unless they were way too small, he'd deal. Decent clothes were in short supply in the Arena. He had learned a long time ago, not to be picky.

He throws them on quickly and follows the blonde hybrid. The other lion's tail was swishing as he walked slightly ahead of Sasuke. The other man was in a good mood judging by his body language. Rarely, did the Uchiha encounter a happy hybrid. Mostly because they had all been fighting for their lives in the Arena. No one could be relaxed when they knew the next breath you took, might very well be your last.

Normally, Sasuke would never allow someone to walk ahead of him. It was a position of dominance. But he had little choice in this case, he had no idea where they were going.

"You're thinking too much." He hears the blonde laugh.

"What?" Sasuke asks.

"I can feel you staring a hole in the back of my head. You're safe here. I'm just taking you to get some food." He reassures him.

"You're an idiot. You've exposed your back to someone you don't know." Sasuke tells him.

"I'm not an idiot. I know you won't attack me." Sasuke finds himself pushed against the wall, as he hears the other man say this.

Normally, Sasuke would have tried to rip the other man's face off at this point. But this didn't feel threatening. His eyes didn't carry the promise of violence. He seemed…amused? Sasuke snarls, not at all pleased to be the butt of whatever joke was going on in the blonde's head.

"What makes you think I won't?" Sasuke says, his teeth bared. (Which he admitted probably would have been more intimidating if he was in his animal form and not a t-shirt that was two sizes too big on him and a pair of jeans that were probably a size too small.

"If you were going to, you would have done it by now. That and I wouldn't recommend it. You would lose." Naruto says and whispers this into his ear.

Sasuke felt a shiver run through him. It wasn't of fear, not exactly. It was something else. The other lion sounded so confident that he would win if it came down to a fight. He should have been pissed on principle, but looking at the blonde…privately he admitted he likely had a reason to be cocky.

Damn he was beautiful. Naruto knew that he probably shouldn't apply that adjective to another man, but it was true. One look at those gorgeous eyes of his and Naruto knew he was a goner.

"You wouldn't last five minutes in the Arena." Sasuke scoffs, trying to regain his composure.

Naruto smirks. He'd seen that shiver. The dark lion was definitely into lions or at least his body was open to the idea. He was a fighter too. Even cornered against the wall, he was still a cocky bastard.

"Oh really?" He asks.

"Yes. You don't have a killer instinct. You got my back against the wall and I'm still breathing. What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asks.

"It's not like that here. You'll see. Come on, let's get you some food." Naruto says smiling.

"It's like that everywhere. Some places are just better at hiding it." Sasuke says, but was relieved when the blonde let him go.

He was really overwhelming his senses. Everything from the sheer size of the blonde lion, to his scent, and his strength was intense. If the Sun was given a humanoid form, Sasuke thought that Naruto would have been it. That golden mane, those sky blue eyes, and his warmth. He was so warm. His body practically radiated heat, like an electric blanket that Sasuke had stolen from one of the trainers once during a particularly cold winter.

The other hybrids in the hall were starting to take notice. Naruto they knew. He was one of the Rookie Officers. The golden lion had made a name for his bravery, strength, and willingness to do anything to protect his teammates. The dark lion, they didn't know. But it looked like Naruto was trying to get to know him, really well.

The female hybrids in particular, were rather excited about the suggestive way the blonde had pushed the other lion against the wall. No one could deny the raw sensuality of lion hybrids, especially not two adult males clearly just starting to enter their prime.

"Sakura, snap a picture." Ino mutters.

Sakura had followed the lions out. She hears the Swan Hybrid and nods. The pinkette snaps a picture. It'd be really good blackmail material for later.

Sasuke shuts his eyes. Damn it! Suddenly light just flashed in them. He roars his displeasure and his teeth start to elongate.

"Easy there! It's just a picture." Naruto tries to calm him down.

"I don't want my picture taken." Sasuke snaps.

"Alright. Alright. No more pictures." The blonde says, leading Sasuke off.

He wondered why the hybrid was so against having his picture taken. It was a shame really. He was too gorgeous not to try to capture on camera.

"So where are we hunting?" Sasuke asks.

"Hunting?" Naruto questions and looks baffled.

"Well I'm assuming we aren't hunting inside. I hope there is zebra. That's my favorite." He states.

"…You're joking." The blonde says.

"What you don't like zebra? Eh with your size, you are probably a buffalo guy." Sasuke says with a shrug.

"No, I mean they actually made you hunt down prey in your animal form?" The blue eyed man asks.

"Of course. It kept us fit. There's nothing better than a fresh kill." He answers.

"…Here our meat comes cooked." Naruto says.

Sasuke makes a face. That was so…tame. He wasn't a house cat. He was a lion dammit.

"Sorry, we are fresh out of zebra. How about a cheeseburger?" He asks the other lion.

"I guess I could try it." Sasuke says, he was hungry enough he'd eat just about anything really.

"You've never had a cheeseburger." Naruto states in shock.

"No." Sasuke answers and flails when Naruto drags him into the cafeteria.

"You can sit here. I'll get the food." He says.

"Alright." Sasuke says and sits down at one of the tables.

His felt uneasy. Sasuke did not like being surrounded by so many unfamiliar hybrids. He'd learned to associate the sight of another hybrid with a match. A match meant he was fighting for his life and at least some pain. It was a rare match when you could win without taking at least one hit.

Thankfully, the blonde soon returns. Sasuke grabs one of the cheeseburgers and bites into it. He was eating so quickly that Naruto wasn't sure if Sasuke even tasted the food.

"Sasuke, no one is going to steal your food here." He says.

It occurred to Naruto that Sasuke was eating that fast because he was worried someone would try to take it otherwise. That was just so sad. Sasuke gives him a dark, possessive look. The other lion was being territorial over his food. Oh well. He'd get used to it eventually.


	2. Chapter 2

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews. I wasn't planning on having Jugo have a big role in this story. But since a couple people seem interested, I'm going to give him more screen time. If anyone is interested, my other ongoing yaoi story with Naruto x Sasuke is called **Love Bites.** It's a vampire theme. It also has a side pairing of Itachi x Gaara.

Herbivore- Plant eating animal.

Omnivore- Animal that eats plants and other animals.

Carnivore- Meat eating animal.

Chapter Warning: Sasuke might be behaving OOC during the second half of the chapter. Then again, you could also take the view that Sasuke would do anything he viewed necessary to stay "free."

Chapter Two

Sasuke had to admit that the cheeseburger wasn't bad. Of course he was hungry enough, he would have eaten almost anything. He tries to avoid looking at the blonde lion hybrid in his stunning sapphire blue eyes. Sasuke had never seen anyone with eyes so…vibrant before.

Staring at another hybrid was typically thought of as a challenge to a fight. Sasuke while he was more than confident in his combat skills, didn't want to start an unnecessary fight by looking at Naruto too long. Another part of him, didn't want to be caught looking at Naruto for a different reason. He didn't want the other lion to think of it as an invitation.

"You want some more?" Naruto asks.

"We can have more than one? Sasuke replies, momentarily distracted from his more…imaginative thoughts.

"You can have as much as you like." The other man tells him.

"Oh good." Sasuke says, getting up, and was about to head over to grab another cheeseburger when Naruto stopped him.

"I can get it for you." Naruto says.

"Alright." Sasuke says and sits back down.

He wasn't sure why Naruto wanted to get him his food. Well not at first anyway. Then Sasuke saw why.

Naruto wasn't the only blonde looking at him. There was a pretty bleach blonde swan hybrid giving him the once over. She seemed to be in charge of the cafeteria.

Sasuke wasn't oblivious. The blonde had made it clear that he found him appealing. He _loved the view_ is what he'd said back in that medical office. Even if he hadn't verbalized it, Sasuke could feel the heat from those azure orbs. The other lion was not subtle.

"I'll be right back!" Naruto says and heads over to the line to get Sasuke another cheeseburger.

He couldn't help but glancing back at the other lion. Shikamaru was right. He didn't even know if fighter liked men at all. So yeah, he knew it was silly. But he didn't want Sasuke near the pretty swan until he found out.

If Sasuke only liked females, then there wasn't much he could do about it. If he was bisexual though, he damn sure wasn't going to let the bird get her feathers on him that easily. If Sasuke was gay, then he was just being silly. But it couldn't hurt to grab the cheeseburger for him anyway.

While Sasuke was waiting for Naruto to retrieve the food, he noticed Jugo. The dark lion wasn't sure why he did it. But he found himself waving the elephant over.

Maybe he just wanted to see a familiar face? Maybe he just didn't want to be "alone" in this strange new world. Perhaps subconsciously, he just wanted a buffer between himself and the golden lion.

"Jugo!" He calls out.

Being a fighter was nerve wracking. You developed a lot of stress. One way to relieve it was through sex. Fighter hybrids weren't usually that particularly fussed about what gender their partner was. Normally, they were just desperate to feel something other than pain, however briefly.

Sasuke didn't judge the hybrids who had engaged in such measures to keep their sanity. But honestly, it was one thing to do it when you were afraid that tomorrow might be your last day. It was another to take up a lover, who presumably was going to be around for awhile.

"Sasuke." The elephant hybrid smiled and ambled over to him.

"You still standing?" Sasuke asks.

Still standing was a common phrase for fighter hybrids. It meant, I'm still standing. I'm still alive. Once you were knocked off your feet, odds are you were a goner. Rarely did anyone get back up on their feet in the Arena.

"Yeah. Still standing. What about you?" He asks and sits next to him.

"Yeah. I'm a survivor." He answers.

"Doesn't hurt to have a Rookie on your side." Jugo says.

"Guess not." Sasuke replies.

Naruto was heading back to Sasuke with the food. That's when he noticed the elephant. He was straight though. So Naruto wasn't worried.

The orange haired man definitely wasn't checking Sasuke out. So he didn't mind. It was probably a good thing that Sasuke had a friend or at least someone else that he apparently was willing to talk to without trying to kill them. (Baby steps.)

"Naruto, this is Jugo. Jugo, Naruto." Sasuke says and grabs the burger, biting into it.

"Nice to meet you Jugo." Naruto says and extends his hand for a handshake.

Jugo just looked at the hand in confusion. It was clear the fighter had no idea what a handshake was. The elephant wasn't sure if this was a threat or not. Naruto's body posture didn't contain any aggression. But appearances could be deceiving.

"You…don't know what a handshake is?" Naruto asks.

There wasn't a trace of mocking in his voice. If anything the lion hybrid sounded almost sad for Jugo. Sasuke mutters some sort of explanation for what a handshake was that seemed to reassure Jugo. In any case, the elephant returned it.

"Nice to meet you too." He says.

"So you and Sasuke are…friends?" He asks.

"I wouldn't say that. We just happened to be about to face each other in the Arena, when you came. But I don't have any personal problem with him." Sasuke states.

"That's about as close to friendship as it was smart to get back there." Jugo says.

"It was really that bad, huh? Naruto questions.

"You never knew who you were going to fight until that day. The better you did, the more likely be forced into life or death matches. But if you didn't get into the upper division, you were nearly starved to death." Jugo says.

"So you guys were…undefeated?" The blonde asks.

"Yeah. It wasn't for a lack of trying on their part though. They don't want any hybrids to stick around too long. Audience might get too attached to them." Sasuke answers.

"That's awful!" Naruto says.

"That's just how it was." Jugo replies.

"Well since you two are friends sorta, if you want I can see if I can't pull some strings and get you a room together. With so many new hybrids around, it's just not possible to give everyone a single room." The blonde says sheepishly.

He wanted Sasuke in HIS room. But he doubted the other lion would go for that so soon. Besides, he seemed to like Jugo (as much as Sasuke liked anyone really.)

The elephant was straight as an arrow. Other hybrids and humans on the base were less likely to try to seduce Sasuke if he had a roommate. It was a good plan.

"I'd be okay with it. If he is." Jugo says.

"That'd be good." Sasuke concedes.

"ALRIGHT NEW HYBRIDS DIVIDE UP INTO THREE GROUPS. Group one will be the herbivore group. Group two is where the omnivores will be going. Finally, group three will consists of our carnivores." The speaker blares in the cafeteria.

"Guess I'll see you later." Sasuke says to Jugo as he heads off to join group three.

"Yeah." He agrees nodding his head.

Naruto smiles. Damn he was really happy to be a predator type in this case. He heads over to group three and commences helping to give a tour to the meat eating hybrids.

Sasuke looks around. Konoha's base was massive. Even if Sasuke wanted to escape, he was pretty sure he would have gotten lost. Damn he wished he had Jugo's memory right about now.

"Ah so these are the strays that we are taking in." Sasuke hears an older man say.

Immediately, as he always did when meeting someone new, he sized the person up. He was older. But he was in good shape. Sasuke recognized this man instantly. He was Danzo. Danzo was a buyer.

Buyers were humans who bought hybrids. The dark haired lion was pretty sure that Danzo bought them in bulk and sold them at higher rates to other buyers. Konoha didn't seem aware of his little "side business."

"Danzo, don't call them that!" Naruto says.

"It's the truth, is it not?" He asks and walks around, looking at them.

Now Sasuke knew why he didn't like it. The man was appraising them. Sometimes, buyers would come to the Arena. They'd buy hybrids either for "pets," slaves, or to fight at their own rings. Sasuke had many buyers who were interested in him, but his price tag was too high.

Lion hybrids were highly sought after and black lions were extremely rare. Not to mention he was undefeated. It meant that Sasuke was very expensive.

He wasn't sure if that had been a good thing or not. Maybe he would have ended up somewhere better than the Arena. But odds are he would have ended up somewhere just as miserable, if not worse. So he decided long ago, not to dwell on it.

"It is not. Stop being an asshole." Naruto growls.

"Feisty kitten." Danzo mutters.

Danzo was clearly a human. But for some reason he didn't seem particularly perturbed by a growling lion hybrid. Well he mostly looked unaffected. There was just a hint of fear in those dark eyes of his.

"Call me a kitten again and I'll show you my claws." Naruto warns and the man wisely heads off to attend to other matters.

Later that night, Naruto was showing the predator group to their rooms they'd been assigned. He was going in alphabetical order. So Sasuke was last. There really weren't that many names that came after U's in general.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask me." Sasuke says, casting a sideways glance at the golden lion.

"Didn't ask you what?" Naruto questions.

"If I wanted to share a room with you." Sasuke says in an even more velvety voice than usual.

Naruto almost purred in pleasure. Interesting fact about big cat hybrids, while only normal cheetahs could purr, all big cat hybrids could. Fuck that voice of his was something else.

There was no mistaking the tone of it. Sasuke was definitely hitting on him. He didn't need to say it, but Naruto could practically hear the implied, _I know you wanted to._

"You've been through a lot. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable by asking you to share a room with someone you didn't know." Naruto says.

Naruto wasn't stupid though. While that voice made him want to just shove the other lion against the wall and claim him, he knew that this was too sudden of a personality shift. Sasuke had been suspicious to tolerant of him for the most part. The whole _Take me_ voice thing was out of character for him. Something was up. Something big.

He hadn't been acting like this during his physical, at lunch, or for most of the tour. Then it clicked. Naruto remembered the way Danzo had been looking at Sasuke. It was unnerving really.

Sasuke was…scared. He was scared enough that he was willing to offer to share Naruto's bed. What the other lion hybrid thought Danzo might do to him, Naruto wasn't sure. But he figured Sasuke had valid reasons for his concern.

"You know I think you are the first person to worry about making me uncomfortable." Sasuke muses.

"And you don't have to, you know that right?" Naruto asks.

"I don't have to what?" Sasuke questions.

"Flirt with me to make me want to keep you here. I'm not stupid, Sasuke. I saw those creepy looks Danzo was giving you. You're worried about something. So you decided to be…nicer than usual. I don't know what is spooking you. But you are safe here. I promise." Naruto finishes.

"I guess the whole dumb blonde thing was just a stereotype after all." Sasuke says.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong…I'm digging your bedroom voice. It's hot as Hell. But I want you to use it because you want ME. Not because you're scared and want me protect you." Naruto tells him.

"What makes you think I don't want you? The two aren't necessarily exclusive." Sasuke murmurs.

Naruto couldn't tell. Was Sasuke just faking it or being serious? It was embarrassing, but his lower body didn't seem to care.

That was an invitation, no matter the motives behind it. But his head, did care. It wasn't right to take advantage of Sasuke being afraid and wanting reassurance like that.

"I can't tell. I don't blame you. If I was in your position, I'd probably be trying everything I could to prevent being sent back into a situation like that. I'm not going to lie. I did, I DO want to share a room with you. But I want it to be your CHOICE." Naruto says.

"Are you a lion or a Boy Scout?" Sasuke asks mockingly.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive." Naruto mocks right back.

"Not bad." Sasuke smirks and heads into his room.

He leans against the wall and sighs. Had he actually done that? He'd practically thrown himself at Naruto and for what? Because he didn't want to be sold off?

It was stupid. He had panicked. It was only natural to latch onto Naruto because he wanted Sasuke, he was strong, and seemed to scare Danzo.

He'd never flirted like that before. Sasuke had never flirted period. The dark haired lion hybrid didn't know whether to relieved that Naruto hadn't taken the offer or to pout.

No, he was a lion hybrid. He did not pout. It was beneath him. But at least now he could be honest with himself. Sasuke was attracted to the blonde.

Naruto sighs and heads back to his room. Once alone, he couldn't help punching the wall in frustration! Dammit! It wasn't fair.

"I did the right thing." He mutters to himself.

He knew it was wrong. But his more animalistic side, was kicking himself for not taking that offer. Naruto could have had a gorgeous lion writhing underneath him right now. But nooo. He just had to be the "Boy Scout" as Sasuke called it.

His darker side was whispering some very tempting thoughts. Even if Sasuke had only made an advance out of fear, that was okay. The other lion knew that Sasuke was strong. Strong enough to protect him.

Naruto was a good lover, his animal side told himself. He'd always been able to please his partners. He could have satisfied the other hybrid. Even if it didn't start out as love on the other man's part, he could have made him feel GOOD. He'd eventually come to accept Naruto as his mate.

"So wanna talk about it?" Jugo asks, meanwhile back in Sasuke's room.

"Nothing much to say." Sasuke lies.

"If you don't want to, that's okay. But we both know that isn't the truth." He says taking the bottom bunk bed.

"I saw Danzo. He's a known buyer. I don't think Konoha knows though. I freaked. I thought maybe if Naruto…if I… that he'd have a reason to keep me around." Sasuke says and climbs up the ladder to the top bunk.

"Danzo is here?" Jugo asks and sounds more than a little terrified. (Sasuke couldn't blame him. He knew his history as well as anyone.)

"Yeah. Anyway, he decided to show off his halo. As you can see I'm here and not with him." Sasuke mutters.

"You sound more upset about that than the fact one of the biggest buyers is at this base." Jugo muses.

"I guess it hurt my pride is all." The dark lion says.

"I think it's more than that. But whatever you say." Jugo states.

"Oh shut up!" Sasuke growls and tosses a pillow down at him.

Jugo wisely decides not to comment further. It wasn't really any of his business. He was lucky to have a roommate he got along reasonably well with. He didn't want to fuck that up.

The next day, Sasuke was out exploring the base. A large tiger type approached him. Male. He was in his animal form and might have actually been bigger than Naruto. (Which made sense given that regular tigers were generally bigger than regular lions.)

"I heard there was a black lion hybrid on base now. Wanted to see if it was true or not for myself." He says.

"It is." Sasuke states.

"Prove it." The tiger demands.

Sasuke didn't care much for being told what to do. But he didn't think it was an issue worth fighting over. He transforms into his animal self.

"It is true. You're even more stunning in this form." The tiger says, growling with approval.

"Thank you. I'm not interested though." Sasuke says and instantly gets into a guarded position.

"You aren't a purebred follower, are you?" He asks.

Purebreds were hybrids who would only mate within their species. If you were a lion hybrid, you'd only mate with lions. If you were a wolf hybrid, you'd only mate with wolf hybrids. This could apply even if breeding wasn't possible such as with a two male or two female pair.

"I'm not. But I'm still not interested." Sasuke tells him.

"I think I could change your mind." The tiger says and fluffs him.

"I doubt it. Now back off before the claws come out." Sasuke growls warningly at him.

"I like a fighter." He purrs at him.

"Then you'll fucking love me." Sasuke snarls and lunges at the tiger, slamming him onto the floor.

The commotion drew a rather large crowd. Naruto heard it and came to investigate. His eyes widen in horror when he sees Sasuke wrestling with a tiger hybrid. Shit! If he darted in now though, he was just as likely to hurt Sasuke as get the tiger away from him.

The tiger was bigger than Sasuke. But Sasuke was faster and damn more vicious. He was used to fighting for his life. The tiger wasn't.

The lion's survival instincts kick in and soon he has the tiger pinned harshly underneath him, his fangs clamped around his throat. He was about to kill this son of a bitch who dared to challenge him, when he heard Naruto.

"Sasuke! That's enough. It's over." He says.

Reluctantly, Sasuke releases the tiger and cautiously prances over to Naruto's side. Naruto rubs his ears reassuringly. He couldn't be mad at Sasuke. He'd been trained to fight to the death for who knows how long and it was only natural he'd go postal. The tiger on the other hand. Well that was another story.

"You fucking idiot! You pissed him off, KNOWING where he came from. You KNOW they were forced to fight to the death and you still had to goad him anyway. Are you fucking suicidal?" Naruto snarls.

"I wasn't challenging him. I was just curious if he really was a black lion. Then I saw he was and thought we could have some fun. He was being stuck up and I thought I'd just loosen him up." The tiger states.

"If you ever even THINK about touching him again, I will fucking kill you." Naruto was so pissed that he changed into his animal form without realizing it and charged straight at the other feline hybrid.

Sasuke blinks. This was a different side of the lion hybrid. He'd always been so cheerful. So playful. Calm. This was a killer. He took back what he said about the blonde having no killer instinct. He clearly had it and if he didn't step in, the tiger was definitely going to die.

"Naruto. It's over. He's an idiot." Sasuke says.

"He's more than an idiot. He was going HURT you." Naruto couldn't even bring himself to say HOW the tiger had been planning to hurt Sasuke.

"He could have tried. He wouldn't have succeeded. Come on. Let the moron lick his wounds. You aren't a killer. You're a Boy Scout. Remember?" Sasuke asks.

"You aren't worth it." Naruto snarls at the tiger and heads over to Sasuke.

"You need to calm down." Sasuke says and starts grooming Naruto's furry face.

Naruto closes his eyes. God that felt good. There was just something about grooming that was really soothing. Oh and the fact that Sasuke's lion form had a really flexible tongue probably helped. He was hitting those hard to reach spots on the blonde's face.

"Alright. Let's go back to my room then?" Naruto asks.

"Maybe next time. I shouldn't have thrown myself at you like that last night." Sasuke mutters, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"No! No! It's okay you can throw yourself at me anytime. I just wanted to make sure that you wanted me for me and not…you know." He says.

"I get it." Sasuke says.

"Good! So my room then?" Naruto asks and his tail swishes.

"Maybe later." Sasuke says and begins trotting off.

"Evil tease!" Naruto growls in frustration.

"Maybe. You like it though." Sasuke says and slinks off.


	3. Chapter 3

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys. I wasn't sure if this story might be a little too out there to be well received. But it looks like people seem to enjoy the hybrid concept. I'll be introducing other Rookie Nine hybrids and will be elaborating on what happens to the other rescues soon. If you have an idea for what type of hybrid you'd like a character to be, feel free to leave your suggestion in a review or private message ^^. Oh and we have Gaara's backstory here. Warning it's not a happy one. But all my stories do have happy endings.

Chapter Three

"Do you know how disturbing it is to see a five hundred pound lion, pacing?" Gaara asks his friend.

Gaara was a hybrid. More specifically, he was an African leopard type. He had stunning light blue eyes and a reddish tint to his fur in animal form. Most striking though, were the black markings around his eyes. They were so vivid and gave him a constantly feral appearance. He had an intimidating enough presence that even the larger predator types (and let's face it leopards were fairly high up on the food chain) gave him lots of space.

"Oh hey, Gaara!" Naruto calls out to his friend.

Naruto was a truly massive beast in his animal form. His fur was a rich golden color and had a shaggy, almost fluffy appearance. His proud mane was thick, framing his face almost like a crown. His sapphire blue eyes made him stand out in any crowd. While Sasuke's animal form had been made of lean muscle, Naruto's was large and in charge.

"I heard about your run in with a tiger. It's not like you to pick fights. So what happened?" The leopard asks.

"He tried to force himself on Sasuke. Sasuke sent him packing though. But I wanted to kill that fucker for what he was planning to do." Naruto growls.

Gaara raises an eyebrow. He didn't know who Sasuke was. So the red head decided Sasuke must have been one of the hybrids rescued from the fight ring.

He knew Naruto well enough to know that R word would set him off faster than almost anything. But there was a certain…possessiveness to his tone that told the leopard there was more to it. This was personal.

"Oh right. You don't know Sasuke. He's a lion hybrid. He was rescued from the Arena." Naruto adds as an afterthought.

"And you want him." Gaara states.

There was no judgment in the red head's voice. He was well aware that hybrids came in all sexual orientations. Actually, gays and lesbians represented a larger percentage of the hybrid population than they did in the human population.

No one was really sure why. But Gaara digressed. He'd always known that Naruto preferred males to females when it came to companionship.

"Yeah." Naruto admits.

"Does he prefer lions or lionesses?" Gaara asks.

"I'd guess he is at least bisexual." The blonde responds.

"Well bisexual means you have a shot. I'd be careful Naruto. You know what I was like when I was rescued. He might lash out." The leopard warns his friend.

 _Gaara remembered it like it was yesterday. Gaara had been a "pet." His owner was far from loving though. From an early age, his human had used Gaara to punish his enemies._

 _The only time that Gaara ate well was when he had torn into a human. His owner was in some position of power. He knew that. It was his job to make sure criminals were punished._

 _Nothing said punishment like a leopard coming at you with its fangs and claws bared. A demon. That's what his owner had called him._

 _For most of his life, the red head had only known one thing. His existence depended on being strong. Stronger than whoever his owner threw into the ring with him._

 _If he wanted to eat, he had to punish them. There were days, even weeks at a time where Gaara would have no contact with anyone, other than the occasional meal being thrown down into the pit. It had warped his thinking. He'd become homicidal, insane really._

 _One day, he'd heard a truly terrifying roar. He saw a massive lion hybrid charge inside, with other hybrids right behind him and some humans. Gaara knew it was him by the mane. Lionesses didn't have manes._

 _He and the other "pets" his owner had were immediately taken to Konoha. Gaara hadn't been the easiest rescue case. The only one who could handle him was Naruto. The lion was able to throw his weight around and subdue the vicious leopard._

 _Naruto never gave up on Gaara. He always tried to talk to him. He tried to make friends. One day the blonde saved him from a bear hybrid that loathed the leopard._

 _Gaara had never had anyone who cared if he lived or died before. Slowly, thanks to Naruto he emerged out of the darkness and into the light. The red head would do anything for his best friend._

"Yeah. I know. He seems to be doing okay though. Pretty skittish of Danzo, but other than that…" Naruto trails off.

"Well who isn't skittish of Danzo? The guy gives even me the creeps." The red head admits.

"You got a point there." The blonde agrees.

Meanwhile, Sasuke settles into his bunk bed. It was far more comfortable than anything he'd been given in the arena. He wraps the blankets around himself protectively, burrowing into their warmth.

It wasn't so bad here. He had a full belly, which had been a rarity at the Arena. He had a nice clean bed, another thing that was in short supply there. And the memories of a gorgeous pair of sapphire blue eyes, to keep him company.

Sasuke finds himself yawning. It didn't take long for the lion to drift to sleep. Just as he was dozing off, he was idly aware of Jugo snoring. He was safe enough to sleep without worrying that the elephant might kill him.

That was a new thing to Sasuke. He'd never felt safe enough to sleep around another hybrid before. That was his final thought before succumbing to sleep's loving embrace.

In the morning, Jugo and Sasuke are escorted to one of the shops on the base. It was a clothing shop. Sasuke raises an eyebrow when cute bunny hybrid named Hinata told him that they were going to buy some clothes. He didn't have any money. He doubted Jugo did.

"Oh it's all free, since you were rescue cases. You'll eventually be given jobs and just have the clothing costs deducted from your first month's wages." She had informed him.

She really was cute. If Sasuke was straight, he would have definitely tried to eat her up. She had long dark blue hair, large innocent lavender eyes, adorable white floppy bunny ears, and a cute little cotton tail.

Jugo definitely liked what he saw. Sasuke was at a loss how a bunny and an elephant would ever be compatible, but… who was he to judge? He was a gay lion.

"What kind of jobs?" Sasuke asks.

"Oh well it depends what we need, what skills you have, and your personal preferences. But don't worry, everyone receives a fair wage." She tells him.

"Good to know." Sasuke says.

He wasn't sure what a fair wage was by Hinata's standards. But if they were giving away free clothes, it'd be nice to have something that actually fit. Frankly the jeans were just a little too small and while he could deal with them, it was uncomfortable. He looks around before grabbing a few things and heading into one of the changing stalls.

Meanwhile, Naruto goes to see Granny Tsunade. She was a Lioness Hybrid who was in charge of Konoha. They were both blonde lions. A lot of people thought that Naruto was actually have biological grandson. So the nickname Granny Tsunade had stuck.

"Hey, Granny Tsunade. Do you know where the rescue hybrids are today?" Naruto asks, his tail swishing.

"Well it depends on their group. Right about now the carnivore types are getting some new clothes. The herbivores are eating breakfast. And the omnivores are being given a more thorough tour of the base. Why do you ask?" She responds.

"Oh I was just curious! I want to make sure that they are you know…adjusting well and everything." He says cheerfully.

"Who is he?" Tsunade asks slyly.

"What do you mean?" The blonde feigns innocence.

"Your tail is swishing like a dog's. There's man involved. So which hybrid caught your attention?" She repeats herself.

"That obvious, huh?" He says with a laugh.

"Yes, that obvious. If you tell me, I can look up his records. Orochimaru kept rather detailed ones on all his fighters. If you are curious of course." She teases him.

"You I am! Well I don't know his last name. But his first is Sasuke and he's a black lion hybrid." He says.

Naruto figured that should narrow it down. Sasuke wasn't that common of a name, was it? Besides, there were only so many lion hybrid rescues. Black furred lions were really, really rare. She could find his file based on that, right?

"Lion hybrid," she mutters and goes through the files.

"Ah here we are." She says and hands Naruto a folder that was labeled Sasuke Uchiha.

 _Name: Sasuke Uchiha_

 _Species: Lion Hybrid. (Black furred variety.)_

 _Gender: Male._

 _Age: 19._

 _Experience: Sasuke has been fighting in the Arena since he was 7 years old. During his 12 year career he has won a total or 663 matches and lost 34. All 34 losses were in the lower division during his childhood/juvenile stages of development before entering the Top Tier._

 _Intelligence: High. Consistently scores in the genius tier of I.Q tests._

 _Strengths: Physical power, speed, agility (especially considering his weight in animal form), and a master tactician. He also has impressive stamina and is unafraid to face larger opponents. His eyesight and hearing are exceptional, even for a feline type._

 _Weaknesses: Very proud. Prone to losing his temper easily. Enjoys taunting his opponents too much which occasionally leads to him receiving more injuries than he otherwise would. During one of his matches as a child, his left hand was crushed. It has since healed but he still favors his right. (Right front paw in animal form.) It seems to cause him a great deal of pain when that hand is attacked successfully._

 _Pedigree/Reproductive Status: Sasuke is a thoroughbred lion hybrid. He has reached sexuality maturity. Unfortunately, attempts to breed him have proven unsuccessful. It appears he lacks sexual desire for females. We are considering use of drugs to assist him in…siring cubs. We speculate that he is either asexual or prefers men._

 _Other Notations: Sasuke's favorite food is zebra. He seems to genuinely enjoy hunting. He also has enjoys swimming almost as much as a tiger hybrid. When Sasuke is angry the fastest way to calm him is with food or surprisingly belly or back rub in his animal form._

 _Health: Generally excellent physically. Mentally he suffers from severe nightmares._

"Whoa you weren't kidding when you said detailed," Naruto muses.

"Orochimaru was always a control freak." She states.

"Those bastards were going to try to drug him to knock someone up." The blonde growls in anger.

"Unfortunately, such tactics are common in fight rings. Even if he wasn't gay, they probably would have at some point." She says.

"Well you said predators are getting clothes. So I'm gonna go check on him." Naruto says cheerfully.

"I'm sure he's a big boy and can dress himself." She chuckles.

"Yeah! Of course. Doesn't mean I can't offer to help him out." Naruto says with a wink and heads off.

Sasuke looks at himself in the mirror of the changing room. Well the shirt fit. It was comfortable too. It was a long sleeved white shirt that easily opened in the front. The blue silk pants were a far better fit than the jeans too. Yeah, he'd probably get this. He could fight easily in it.

"Hey, Hinata! Have you seen Sasuke? He's a black lion hybrid?" The blonde asks the bunny.

"Oh yes. H-e's in changing style number se-ven." She stammers out.

"Great! Thanks. You're the best." Naruto tells her and his tail swishes as he heads to the changing stalls.

Naruto knocks on door number seven. Sasuke tilts his head from behind the door. Maybe it was Hinata or even Jugo. He decides to open the door. He was dressed. An attacker, wouldn't knock.

He relaxes when he saw it was Naruto. The blonde was many things. But he definitely wasn't hostile towards Sasuke.

"There you are. So I see the shopping is going well. That looks great on you. It'd look even better unzipped though." The blonde says and boldly unzips it, exposing most of Sasuke's muscular chest.

"Hey!" Sasuke gives a warning growl.

"Sorry, I probably should have asked first. On second thought, you should probably keep it zipped unless we are alone." The blonde says thoughtfully.

"What makes you think we are going to be alone enough for it to matter?" Sasuke says in a cocky fashion and zips the shirt back up.

"You said it wasn't mutually exclusive." He points out.

"Yeah. I did say that." Sasuke mentally curses his moment of weakness.

Naruto clearly knew that Sasuke was attracted to him. The blonde seemed more than willing to take advantage of that. He bites his lower lip and ponders the implications.

There really wasn't a reason why he should be skittish about the other lion's advances. It wasn't like they would have to face off against each other in the Arena. From the sounds of things, he'd be staying at the base for awhile. He just wasn't used to touches that weren't intended to harm. It was a defensive mechanism to try to avoid getting close to someone.

"Maybe I can get Granny Tsunade to assign you to my division once you're cleared." He says.

"Granny Tsunade?" Sasuke asks and raises an eyebrow.

"Tsunade runs Konoha. She's the boss." Naruto explains.

"Your grandmother runs this place?" The darker lion questions.

"Well she's not actually my grandmother. But she's the closest thing I have to one. We are both blonde lion hybrids, so people just kinda assumed we were related." He adds.

"Oh. I get it. What makes you think I would want to be in your division?" Sasuke asks with a smirk.

"You're really going to try this whole pretending to be hard to get thing, huh?" Naruto asks.

"Who is pretending?" Sasuke replies smugly and slides out of his new shirt, throwing on the old tshirt Naruto gave him.

"Conflicting signals. You are saying maybe not but giving me a striptease?" Naruto asks in disbelief.

"You've already seen me naked anyway when Sakura was examining me. Besides, I'm keeping my boxers on." Sasuke says with a shrug and kicks off the new pants, throwing on those damn jeans.

"Well good to know you aren't the shy type. I was kinda worried. You did put up a big fuss when Sakura wanted you to strip." Naruto states.

"That was because I don't like exposing my vital spots to a stranger. You'd understand that if you had lived in the Arena." Sasuke casts a sideway glance at Naruto as if mocking him for not understanding the way things worked there.

"It really was that bad, huh?" Naruto murmurs and pushes Sasuke against the stall's wall.

"What is with you and pushing me against walls?" Sasuke asks in amusement.

"It gets your attention and I can see those eyes of yours up close. That and you just look so fucking hot with your back against the wall. " He answers honestly.

"You have a wall fetish." Sasuke accuses.

"More like a Sasuke fetish. The wall is just a nice background." He says.

Sasuke felt his face heat up. He wasn't someone who blushed easily. He blamed the other lion. He was just so…blunt. The dark hybrid was sure that Naruot said whatever popped into his head and never bothered filtering it. He was just so free.

"Well why don't you go get your clothes and I'll show you the African Habitat." He says with a smile.

"African Habitat?" Sasuke asks curiously.

"Yeah, they have spaces modeled to look like the different continents. You know where we can run around in our animal forms. It's great to keep from going stir crazy. You'll love it." He says.

"Alright. Can Jugo go?" He asks.

"Um sure, I guess. I was kinda hoping that it'd just be the two of us but he's cool. Besides, he is an elephant, so it's his home turf too." Naruto replies.

"Well there are Asian elephants, but yeah he's African." Sasuke says and heads outside the stall to "pay" for his clothes.

"Hey, Jugo! Naruto is going to show me a place we can shift. You wanna come with us?" Sasuke asks.

"Sure. It'd be nice to change without having to kill anyone." He answers, gets his clothes, and heads off with them.

The three men head off. Naruto shows them around. Sasuke blinks. Damn this was realistic. If he didn't know any better, he'd think he was actually in the African Grasslands.

The dark lion shifts to his animal form. Jugo does as well, though it takes him longer because well…he was a lot bigger than the two lions. Naruto follows suit and prances ahead of Sasuke, taking them to the watering hole.

Sasuke found a rather large rock in the middle of the water and claims it as his "throne" of sorts. He rolls onto his back and lounges, sunbathing. The black lion's tail swishing lazily in contentment. Ahhhh.

Jugo for his part seemed quite happy to play in the water. Once in awhile, he'd take a trunk full of water and squirt it out at some of the kids that were playing there. Naruto laughs at this and soon joins Sasuke on his rock.

"Naruto, the rock is big, but it is not big enough for both of us." Sasuke tells him.

"Yes, it is." Naruto says and he gets on top of Sasuke and proceeds to start giving the other feline a nice and very thorough grooming session.

"Little bit lower." Sasuke murmurs.

Naruto moves lower as requested. He was delighted when Sasuke let out a pleasure filled sigh. He could feel the other man's muscles relax. This was good. Sasuke was getting used to him and even trusted him enough to show his back to Naruto.

That felt good. Like everything else, Naruto didn't do anything halfway. This apparently included even grooming. He was also really good at reaching those hard to reach spots.

Sasuke felt nice and warm underneath the blonde lion. It was so relaxing. He thought he might doze off, when he noticed a vulture hybrid staring at him. A challenging stare.

"For such a pretty kitty, you sure do behave like a bitch in heat." Deidara taunts him.

"What was that bird brain?" Sasuke growls in annoyance.

"I wonder if you are actually going to let him mount you right here? I mean he's already on top of you. Naughty kitties. You like to do it in your animal forms, yeah?" He taunts.

Sasuke bucks Naruto off him. The transformation as startling. One second, Sasuke had been calm and content. The next second he was a lean, mean killing machine. He charges over to Deidara, at full speed and his fangs were bared menacingly.

That's when Danzo showed up. Fuck! This wasn't good. Sasuke had Deidara pinned underneath him and looked like he was going to make a snack out of the vulture.

"Dart him!" Danzo says.

There were security people at all the "Continents" in case a hybrid's instincts took over. Sometimes it was necessary to dart them. Normally this was mostly an issue for predator and prey types interacting.

Sasuke snarls and tries to dodge the darts. His human mind had just completely shut down. He was fighting on animal instinct. He growls, lunges, and tries to evade all at the same time. Eventually though, too many darts hit and his world goes black.

"NOOO!" Naruto bounds over to Sasuke.

"You asshole! It wasn't his fault. Deidara was fucking taunting him." Naruto growls.

"Taunting or not, his first reaction shouldn't be to kill. He's dangerous Naruto." Danzo informs him.

"He can learn! Fuck you must have had him darted like 20 times. I swear to God if he dies because you overdosed him, I will kill you. I'm reporting you to Granny Tsunade for excessive force!" Naruto threatens him.

"Jugo! Help me!" Naruto calls out.

The elephant barrels over. Sasuke was way too heavy for Naruto to drag back easily. But he could get him on the elephants back. Jugo could carry him with ease.

The two of them rush Sasuke to the hospital. The hospital was designed to allow larger animals such as Jugo inside. So yeah… it was strange seeing an elephant run down a hallway, but he did fit.

"I NEED A DOCTOR!" Naruto yells.

"What's wrong?" Sakura hears Naruto's frantic cries and rushes out to help.

"Danzo darted him, like twenty times. I need to make sure he's okay." The blonde tells her.

"I'll run the tests. What did he dart him for?" The pinkette asks.

"It's a very long story." Naruto says.

"I got time." She assures.

"Well…" Naruto sighs as he begins to explain the tale.


	4. Chapter 4

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. We had a question about why Jugo was with Sasuke, when he isn't a predator type in the clothing store. I'll post an explanation in this chapter. Anyway, I'm happy this story is being well received by those who have noticed it. It does seem to be flying under the radar a bit ^^.

Chapter Four

Jugo paces outside the room where Sasuke was being treated. While the room was big enough to hold another person, it would have been cramped. Sakura had kicked Naruto and Jugo out of the room while she looked at the unconscious lion.

"Out! Both of you! I know you are worried about him, but hovering isn't going to help." She yells at them in no uncertain terms.

Jugo was worried about Sasuke. Very worried. Sasuke was the only one who could keep him from blacking out.

The only other person who had been able to do it had been a snow leopard type named Kimimaro. He had come down with a fatal bone cancer and had eventually lose his war with his disease. Jugo missed his dead best friend terribly.

Jugo had been alone ever since. Sasuke was the closest thing he had to a friend. He knew making friends was dangerous. But maybe here, in this place he had thought it would be safe. He couldn't help but remember how he'd discovered that Sasuke could calm him down.

 _In order to survive in the Arena, Jugo had had to compartmentalize things. He was normally a gentle giant. But if he didn't want to die, he had to kill or be killed. So he had developed a second personality._

 _The doctors told him this was a defense mechanism. If he blacked out and couldn't remember killing someone, it was just easier for him to process what he had done. Eventually, Kimimaro had been able to control it. But once he died, more and more Jugo had let his darker side take over._

 _But he was free now! He had been doing so well until they had tried to separate him from Sasuke. Sasuke had gone with the predator group._

 _Jugo had lost it and changed into his elephant form, going on a rampage. Eventually, Sasuke had gone back to see what the fuck was going on and Jugo had calmed immediately._

 _"…Well I guess we can make an exception this once. It's that or have the place torn apart by a raging bull elephant. Does our insurance policy cover such things?" Kakashi had mused._

So Jugo had gone with Sasuke to get some new clothes. It was going well. He even met a cute bunny named Hinata. Jugo was happy to have some clothes that actually fit properly. The golden lion had shown up and offered to take them to "Africa."

It was amazing. It looked so realistic. The elephant had been having a grand ole time in the waterhole.

Sasuke had found a rock to sunbathe on and seemed to be enjoying a grooming session from Naruto. Everything was peaceful, happy. In retrospect Jugo probably should have realized that was a sign they were about to be fucked over.

"Is he going to be okay?" Naruto calls out.

"Naruto! I'm trying to work here." The pink haired Flamingo snapped at the blonde.

Sasuke was unconscious for days. Sakura had taken to feeding him through an IV. His vitals were stable though. He just had too much of the drug in his system to wake up. Gradually, it was working its way out.

"M-other." Sasuke mumbles in his sleep.

The drugs were finally starting to wear off. Enough so that he could dream. Sasuke dreamed of his family. He was a little cub again and his mother was giving him a bath in his animal form.

"I'm clean! Can I go play with Itachi now?" He mumbles.

His mother was always so warm and kind. His father proud and strong. His brother was the best of both of their parents. He had belonged to a large pride. The largest in the area. Sasuke remembered feeling extremely proud of his pride and so certain that one day he'd take over it alongside his beloved elder brother.

"Is he waking up?" Naruto asks hearing Sasuke's voice.

They were also sorta famous. His clan was well known for their beautiful black fur. It was both a blessing and a curse really. The fact their fur was so rare meant it was worth more. Which…attracted poachers.

"I think he's sleep talking. His brain waves indicate he's dreaming." Sakura informs Naruto.

You see hybrids lived a wide variety of lifestyles. Some like Sasuke's family, largely lived the life of wild animals/ native people. Their lives were simple. They lived off the land. But they were happy.

"Oh. Well that's good, right?" He asks.

Many hybrids tried to blend into human society, either by hiding their animal like features or just living like a human but openly as hybrids. Still there were others who worked for the government, like Naruto.

"Yeah. It means the worst of it has left his system. I expect he'll wake soon." She says with a smile.

Finally, you had the less fortunate hybrids. They were treated as pets or slaves. It was legal to have pets. But it was illegal to fight hybrids. But the law had never stopped greedy humans before.

His family had been attacked by poachers. He'd gotten separated from his family. He had no idea what happened to them.

He assumed they were killed for their fur, sold as pets, or ended up fighting like he did. Sasuke missed them terribly. But he knew in reality becoming someone's fur coat was likely "kindest" of the fates that could have befallen them. He assumed they were all dead. He didn't really know though. It was possible they were still out there somewhere.

"ITACHI! MOTHER! FATHER!" Sasuke cries out and sits up, eyes wide with fear and desperation.

"Easy there, Sasuke. It's okay." Naruto reassures him.

"Naruto?" He asks in confusion.

"Yeah. It's me. You were just having a nightmare." The blonde tells him.

"It wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory." Sasuke mutters.

"Oh. Do you want to talk about it?" He asks.

"No. Not right now anyway." Sasuke whispers.

"It's okay. You don't have to. I'm just glad you are okay. Jugo was really worried too." The other lion adds.

"Tell I'm I'll be alright. Can I get out of here? I really hate hospitals." He mutters.

"Sakura? Is he okay to clear for release?" Naruto asks.

"Yeah. He should be okay. But he should definitely take it easy for another day or two." She says.

"No problem. I'll take a couple days off and watch him." Naruto says happily.

"You don't have to take off work for me. I'm fine. I don't need a babysitter." Sasuke scoffs.

"Eh I have lots of vacation time saved up anyway. I know I don't need to. But I want to. Besides, I really don't like the way Danzo was looking at you." The blonde admits.

"Alright." Sasuke agrees mostly because of that last part.

He didn't want to get sold off. The old man would come up with an excuse. He just knew it. The fact he had attacked Deidara, even if the blonde vulture had provoked him, gave him easy grounds to do so.

"Great. I'll go talk to Granny Tsunade about taking some time off. You should probably go see Jugo." He tells him.

"Alright." Sasuke says and gets out of the bed.

His legs felt so shaky. Dammit! He started to fall. Naruto caught him, thankfully. It was still embarrassing.

"Maybe you got up just a little too soon." Naruto says.

"Maybe." Sasuke says and feels his face heating up with embarrassment.

"It's okay. You are lucky to be alive. Of course you are going to be a bit shaky at first. Maybe I should get you back to your room first, before seeing Granny Tsunade. You can lean on me." Naruto continues.

Sasuke clearly wasn't fond of the whole idea of leaning on someone thing. But he nods. He wanted to get out of the hospital as soon as possible. If that meant leaning on Naruto, he'd do it.

"Hey, Jugo. He's going to be okay. I'm just gonna take him back to the dorm and let Tsunade know I'm gonna take a couple days off to help him recover. No worries, okay?" Naruto asks the elephant.

"Alright. I think I'll head over and see if I can't find the Herbivore Group. You two probably want some alone time." He mutters.

"Thanks! I really appreciate it. Don't worry, I'll take good care of him." The blonde says.

"I don't need taken care of. I'm not some helpless cub." Sasuke growls in annoyance.

"I know you aren't a helpless cub. But you still have a lot of that drug in your system. It's not safe for you to be alone like that." Naruto says.

"I guess you're right." Sasuke grumbles and leans against Naruto as the blonde escorts him back to his dorm.

Naruto opens the dorm and has Sasuke get on Jugo's bunk. He didn't really fancy the lion trying to climb up the ladder in his condition. Then he gets out his cell and calls Tsunade.

"Hey, Tsunade…Danzo decided to go full blown asshole on one of the new hybrids. Deidara was harassing him. Totally provoked him. So Sasuke fought back and Danzo had him darted hardcore. He was out like a light for three days. So I wanted to take some time off to watch him. You know make sure Danzo doesn't try to start something or Sasuke doesn't have a negative reaction." The blonde explains.

"Well you are going to do it anyway, so I might as well give you permission. I'll talk to Danzo. He's been becoming rather…unruly lately anyway. Give your lion my best wishes for a speedy recovery." She says and hangs up.

"She's cool with it." Naruto says and sits down Indian Style on the bed, pulling Sasuke so he was laying in the blonde's lap.

"Loser, what the Hell are you doing?" Sasuke growls warningly.

"Taking care of you. That and this way I get to see those pretty eyes of yours." He murmurs.

"I'm not pretty. You make me sound like a woman." Sasuke scoffs.

"Oh trust me, I know you aren't a woman." Naruto assures him.

"I don't know. You are trying to pull the whole Knight in Shining Armor routine a little too much and the pretty comment." Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"You secretly like it though." Naruto says.

"I'm a lion. I'm undefeated in the upper division. I can handle myself." He states.

"Yes, yes I know you are a bad ass and you have a giant dick. Your masculinity and virility is not being questioned." Naruto reassures him and leans his head down to kiss him.

"Good." Sasuke mutters as he kisses back.

Naruto smiles into the kiss and deepens it. There was a cinnamon flavor to the other lion's mouth. The blonde decided he liked it and eagerly sets about introducing Sasuke to his tongue.

Sasuke moans into the kiss. Naruto had a citrus flavor to his mouth. Oranges, with a dash of honey, and a bit of lemon. Feeling the need to reassert himself, he battles Naruto's tongue with his own for control of the kiss.

The blonde was excited. Sasuke was kissing back. So yeah, he probably got a little carried away. He nudges Sasuke off his lap and further up on the bed, so he was laying flat on his back. Then he hovers over him and captures his mouth in a more heated, aggressive kiss.

Sasuke arches underneath him. He grinds his growing arousal against the other lion. Naruto growls in pleasure. His eyes darken with lust and Sasuke noticed his fingernails were longer than usual, sharper. Uh oh.

"Naruto! You just ruined my shirt!" Sasuke growls.

Yeah, there went Sasuke's shirt. The blonde had just shred it to ribbons with his claws. Damn. That sucked. Sasuke really liked that shirt.

"I'll get you another one. It's your fault for being so…" He trails off letting Sasuke using his imagination.

"Pretty?" Sasuke asks mockingly.

"Yeah. Pretty." Naruto says with smirk.

"Oh that's it!" Sasuke says and rolls them around, until he was on top.

"Rawr. I kinda like this whole King of the Jungle thing you have going on right now." Naruto teases.

Meanwhile, Itachi had just returned from a mission. He heads into the base. He saw a rather battered tiger hybrid. Curious, he decides to go ask Tsunade what was going on. There weren't many hybrids that could take on a tiger and live to tell the tale.

"Tsunade?" Itachi calls out as he knocks on her door.

"Itachi, come inside." She says.

Itachi enters into her office. The lion hybrid hands her his report. He always completed his reports before returning. A fact that Tsunade appreciated. It was a time savor.

"I know it's never a good thing for a cat, but as I'm a lion I thought I'd take my chances. Why did I just come across an injured tiger hybrid?" He asks in amusement.

"It's a long story. You might want to sit down." She says.

"That sounds…foreboding." Itachi mutters.

"We busted up a rather large fighting ring of hybrids while you were away." The blonde woman informs him.

"That's good news." Itachi states.

"Amongst the many rescues, one was a black furred lion hybrid." She continues.

"Rare. But I don't see why that would be upsetting? That still sounds like excellent news." He says and raises an eyebrow.

"His name is Sasuke Uchiha." She states.

"…Sasuke? You found my brother?!" Itachi demands to know.

"Yes. We did. He's fortunate. Here is his file, just so you know what you are dealing with." Tsunade says and hands it over to him.

"He's not hurt?" Itachi inquires.

"Well…as I said it is a long story. He was brought here and seemed to be settling in well. But a vulture hybrid provoked him. He lashed out. Danzo darted him with many tranquilizers. He was out for three days. But he's awake now. Naruto is watching him." She says.

"Where is he?" The lion growls.

"He's in his dorm room. Maybe we should tell him first. It could be a shock to his system. He's still is getting over being tranquilized." Tsunade says and then realizes she was talking to herself.

Itachi had already left. The door was left swinging open. Dammit. She just hoped that he didn't go overboard. She was well aware of how much Itachi missed his brother.

Itachi races to Sasuke's room. He tilts his head to the side. The door was shut, but his keen feline hearing could hear what was going on inside. It was…most amusing.

 _"Naruto! You just ruined my shirt!"_ Itachi vaguely recognized Sasuke's voice. (Puberty had a way of changing one's voice and Sasuke was no exception in this case.)

 _"I'll get you another one. It's your fault for being so…"_ The older lion definitely recognized Naruto's voice from the few missions they had worked on together.

 _"Pretty?"_ Itachi chuckles when he could practically feel the sarcasm in his younger brother's question.

 _"Yeah. Pretty."_ He over hears Naruto say.

 _"Oh that's it!"_ Sasuke cries out and Itachi the impression he was probably pouncing.

 _"Rawr. I kinda like this whole King of the Jungle thing you have going on right now."_ He could hear Naruto saying.

Well he should probably get in there now. If he didn't, it was likely Sasuke was going to be busy for awhile. It didn't bother Itachi that Sasuke was gay. Itachi himself was mated to a male shark hybrid.

So without further ado, Itachi unlocks the door. He'd gotten quite good at such things during his missions. Kisame always told Itachi that he would have made a great thief. The shark should know, Kisame had been one before being caught and taken into Konoha. (He wouldn't have been caught by anyone other than Itachi. He had been that good.)

"Itachi…what are you doing here?" Naruto asks.

Naruto could see Itachi walking in. Sasuke couldn't since he was on top of the blonde. Sasuke freezes when he hears the name Itachi.

"I came to see my brother. It seems that you made a friend." Itachi muses.

"Itachi?" Sasuke jumps off of Naruto and turns to see if it was actually him.

"It's me. It's so good to see you. UMPF!" Itachi is tackle hugged to the ground.

"It's really you!" Sasuke says and his tail swishes.

"You've grown. You were just a cub last time I saw you. Naruto is right. You are pretty." Itachi couldn't resist taunting his younger brother.

"Naruto, I'm going to kill you. He's never going to let me live that down." Sasuke growls.

"Never." Itachi promises and embraces his brother.

"Um I'll let you guys have your moment. Itachi you are a horrible cockblocker by the way." Naruto says.

"I have to protect my foolish little brother's virtue somehow." Itachi muses.

"Yeah. I guess." Naruto says with a laugh and heads out of the room.

"How are you here? What happened to you? Do you know if the others are okay?" Sasuke barrages Itachi with his questions.

"I got sold as a pet. I don't think it's best to dwell on the details. But eventually, Jirayia found me as he had business with my owner. He brought me to Konoha. Mother and father are here. Some of the others. I'm afraid more than a few of our pride were killed for their fur. Some are still unaccounted for. But Tsunade assures me that she is looking and I believe her. Also Shisui was rescued from a fighting ring, like yourself a couple years back." Itachi answers.

"Oh. Wait mother and father are here? And cousin Shisui too?" He asks in delight but also some nervousness, it was too good to be true.

"Yes and some other more extended members of our family. Most of the pack was killed or is unaccounted for. But our pride wasn't completely destroyed. What happened to you?" Itachi questions.

"I was put into a fight ring. Konoha busted it up and I ended up here." Sasuke answers.

"And the reason why were shirtless and Naruto is calling you pretty?" He asks.

"Naruto is Naruto. He's a force of nature." Sasuke mutters and tries not to blush.

"Is it serious or just stress relief?" His older brother asks.

"It's…new. It's a whirlwind, like he is. I don't know really. I…like it though. Itachi…why do you smell like fish?" His younger brother asks curiously.

"Oh that's just Kisame's scent on me." Itachi answers.

"Who is Kisame?" Sasuke questions.

"He's my mate. He's a shark hybrid." The older Uchiha replies.

"A shark hybrid?! How does that work? I mean does he have shark teeth?" The younger lion questions.

"Yes. It works really well. He can choose if he wants to have shark teeth or make them human teeth. He's also…exotic." Itachi warns him.

"Well yeah. I mean water type hybrids are pretty rare to begin with and there aren't that many sharks. What do you mean by exotic?" Sasuke asks cautiously.

"His skin is blue. Try not to stare." Itachi pleads.

"BLUE?!" Sasuke repeats in disbelief.

"It's a light blue." Itachi offers.

"Well…I mean if you are happy with him, I guess it doesn't really matter what color he is. I mean I have a blonde." Sasuke states.

"Yes, well they do say blondes have more fun. Naruto seems intent on proving that." Itachi observes with a chuckle.

"Can you take me to see the others?" Sasuke begs.

"Of course. Though you should probably wait a bit. The drug is still likely in your system. Even if you are feeling up to fooling around with Naruto, I'd still advise caution. I'll let them know you are back. So are you two sharing this dorm?" He asks.

"No. I'm sharing it with Jugo. He's an elephant hybrid that I met in the Ring. He's decent." Sasuke says.

"Ah. Well given the life you've probably led during our separation, decent is likely high praise. You're safe now Sasuke. Best to put the past behind you. And if you have trouble doing so, I suspect Naruto will gladly lend you a paw by screwing your brains out." Itachi says wryly.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke yells and scowls at him.

"I'm just making an observation." Itachi states and pokes him in the forehead affectionately.


	5. Chapter 5

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys. In this chapter, we'll focus mostly on Sasuke's family and the chemistry for Naruto/Sasuke. Maybe we'll introduce some more hybrids. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. All reviews are always appreciated. Also free to way in if you want this to be NaruSasu, SasuNaru, or a combination.

Chapter 5

Sasuke follows Itachi. His older brother was going to take him to see their family! His mother, father, cousin, and others were alive! It was all too good to be true.

"Sasuke!" Mikoto cries out and races over to her youngest child with arms wide open.

"Mother!" Sasuke says and returns her hug.

"It seems that he was one of the rescues from the last fight ring that we broke up." Itachi says.

"Sasuke." Fugaku calls out and soon joins in the embrace between his children and wife.

"The fight ring? Oh my poor baby. Are you hurt?" Mikoto asks.

"I'm fine. I was undefeated in the upper division." Sasuke answers.

"That's my son." Fugaku says with pride.

"Oh he's fine. Trust me. Naruto was taking VERY good care of him." Itachi says with a smirk.

"Naruto? You mean Minato and Kushina's boy?" Mikoto asks and tilts her head in confusion.

"Yeah the golden lion. Sasuke has been making friends." Itachi continues goading his brother.

"Itachi…" Sasuke growls warningly.

"Itachi, stop teasing your brother. Should I take this to mean that you prefer men like Itachi?" Fugaku asks.

Sasuke gulps. He wasn't really sure how his father would take the whole gay thing. It didn't really matter these days. He could just provide a sperm sample and inseminate any willing female he found to his liking. But still…

"I'll take that gulp as a yes. It's fine. There is more than one way to sire cubs in this day and age. I'm…actually a bit relieved that it's another lion. Itachi went and found himself a shark." He muses.

"Dear! I told you to stop being such a purist!" Mikoto snaps at him.

"I'm merely saying that it is an unusual match. I'm not saying that I disapprove." Fugaku says and puts his hands up in an _I surrender gesture._

"Sasuke! There's my favorite cousin!" Shisui cries out and joins the tackle hug.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Itachi asks.

"You are my other favorite cousin." Shisui replies.

"Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of having a favorite?" Sasuke muses.

"No. No. It doesn't." Shisui protests.

"Anyway, I'm really glad to see you too. You are all alive! I thought you were all dead." Sasuke says.

"So what's this Itachi was talking about you and the Golden Boy?" Shisui asks.

"…It's new." Sasuke says.

"Ah so you don't know how serious it is." He states.

"Something like that. But what I wanna know is what happened to all of you?" He decides to change the topic of conversation.

Naruto was gorgeous. Naruto was a good kisser. But he was also basically a stranger. That made him dangerous.

The blonde lion was massive and if it came down to a fight, Sasuke might win but he'd be seriously injured. If you were seriously injured, that was almost the same as signing your death warrant in the Arena. He just wasn't ready to trust someone who wasn't a family member, after years of knowing that trust would get you killed.

"Well Itachi and Mikoto were pets. Fugaku and I both went to illegal fight rings, like you. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks for what happened to us there pretty well. It's so good to have you back. Come on. Let's show you the others." He says and leads Sasuke off.

Meanwhile, Danzo paces in his office. Damn. He had hoped that Deidara provoking the black lion would make it easy for Danzo to convince Tsunade that Sasuke had to go.

He could convince the old hag that Sasuke needed more help than Konoha could give him. There were institutions for high risk cases. Places that housed hybrids that were more dangerous or suffered from various physical/mental illness.

Of course that would just be the cover story. He wasn't going to send Sasuke there. He'd probably sell him as a high priced pet, to another fight ring, or maybe just sell him to someone who wanted a nice fur coat.

"Now that he's under Naruto's protection, it's going to be very difficult to get Tsunade to agree to my plans. Even worse, if he finds out his family is here before I can get him, they'll watch him. The Uchiha Pride is too smart to give me an excuse to send them off." He growls and kicks his desk.

"Is something wrong, Master Danzo?" Sai asks.

"Sai, what are you doing in my office?" He demands to know.

"Tsunade told me to send these reports to you, so you are up to date." The horse hybrid states.

Horse hybrids were rare because there was skepticism about how the horse genes would be expressed at first. But now, the few horse hybrids that they are, looked like the mythical centaurs of ancient lore. Sai was one of them. The horse hybrid population was small but growing rapidly now that it was known it was a safe mix.

"I see. Thank you. You may go now." He says and takes it.

Sai nods and heads off. Horse hybrids were tricky. They fiercely valued their freedom and could be highly rebellious at first. But in Danzo's mind, it was easy enough to deal with them. Once you break them, they were loyal servants. Sai was definitely broken and a valuable spy.

Sai heads into the hall. He saw Naruto wandering down it. He decides to go visit with the lion. Danzo considered him a high priority target.

It seemed highly unlikely that Danzo would ever be able to sell Naruto off. Tsunade was too close to the golden lion. But the buyer made Sai keep a close eye on him just the same.

"Good evening, Naruto. I trust you are well." He says with a creepy fake smile.

"Um yeah. Hey, Sai." The blonde responds.

Sai was kinda hot really. Naruto had always had a thing for dark hair, eyes, and lighter skin. But he was just so damn skinny and the lion really didn't know how the mechanics of such a relationship would work. Plus he was creepy.

Naruto was aware that at some point, Sai had been a fighter. He had been trained to turn off his emotions. He had grown up in a world that was completely different than this one. He didn't understand the simplest things such as hugs.

The blonde knew that Sai was trying to fit in though. So he decided a long time ago to at least try to be friendly. This was usually about the time when Sai would start making dick jokes. Then Naruto would lose it.

The blonde swore that Sai got a kick out of annoying him. Naruto made a mental note to keep Sasuke and Sai as far away from each other as possible. Sasuke had a temper and definitely wouldn't be patient when dealing with the eccentric artist.

"You seem a bit upset?" Sai asks.

"Oh it's nothing. Just you know cockblocked. The guy's brother walked in on us. I'm happy for them though. They haven't seen each other in a long time." He says in a rush.

"Oh well I'm sure that once he's done with the family reunion, he can get a good laugh out of seeing how small your other tail is. There's no reason to be so frustrated." Sai assures him.

"OH THAT'S IT!" Naruto growls.

Sasuke was following Shisui and his family when he heard shouting in the hallway. The lion family goes to see what the Hell was going on. All of them blink. A very large, angry golden lion was snarling at a horse, who was raising their hooves. As far as Sasuke knew, there was only one blonde lion hybrid at the base. (He didn't realize that Naruto's father was also blonde.)

"Naruto?" He asks.

"Sasuke! Hey. Sorry about the noise. I'm just dealing with this jerk. He needs to learn to stop making dumb dick jokes." He says.

"That's Sai. He is…odd. You get used to him after awhile." Shisui offers.

"Oh. Well Naruto, don't kill him. You don't wanna be sent away." Sasuke warns him.

"Yeah. I guess you're right. So how is the reunion going?" He asks and his tail swishes, all traces of anger gone now that his soon to be mate was in sight.

"Great! They are going to take me to see the rest of our extended pride. You going to be okay? I'm not going to come back and find your ass in the ICU, am I?" Sasuke asks dryly.

"Hey! Have some faith in me. It would be HIS ass in the ICU, not me." Naruto says and puffs out his chest.

"Whatever you say." Sasuke laughs and heads off with his family.

Naruto couldn't help but admire the view as he walked off. Damn Sasuke had a fine ass. He wondered if the dark lion would go back to his dorm room that night or stay with his family. Probably stay with his family. That meant that Naruto was going to be one frustrated lion tonight.

Itachi was bringing up the rear of the Uchiha Pride procession. He had to tell Kisame where they were going. He pat pats Naruto on the back sympathetically. Blue balls were not fun.

"I'm sure that you two can play together later." Itachi says and darts off.

Naruto gives Itachi an annoyed growl. Hmpf. Even Sasuke's brother was getting more action than him. Granted it was with a man with blue skin, but still. He decides to have a look around the stores. Maybe he could find something nice for Sasuke that might make him more eager to pick up where they left off? Yeah. That was the ticket.

Sasuke smiles and changes into his lion form. There was much pouncing, fluffing, and grooming going on. It wasn't his whole pride. It'd probably be stretching it to say it was a quarter of his pride. But he wasn't alone anymore. He had a family. He had a family and…well whatever Naruto was to him. He wasn't sure exactly.

"You'll likely be assigned a position soon, if you can prove you are mentally stable. I myself am a field officer. I lead division 24." Fugaku explains.

"I manage one of the day cares." Mikoto adds.

"There is a day care?" Sasuke asks and raises an eyebrow.

"Of course. Someone has to watch the children when the parents are at work." She explains.

"Alright. I guess that makes sense. What about you Itachi?" He asks.

"I suppose you could say that I'm a tracker. I track down hybrids who are…engaged in illegal activities or who need rescued." Itachi says.

"Is that how you found Free Willy over there?" Sasuke muses.

"Free Willy was an Orca, not a shark." His brother says and rolls his eyes in amusement.

"Same difference!" Sasuke states.

"Don't let Kisame here you say that. Orcas and shark types have a bit of a rivalry going on." Itachi warns him.

"Really?" His younger brother questions as if this thought hadn't occurred to him.

"Yes. Aquatic hybrids have their own issues, just as we land hybrids do." He continues.

"Alright then. So…how long you been with him anyway?" The dark lion asks curiously.

"About five years." Itachi replies.

"Oh. Damn that is serious then." Sasuke says.

"Very. When you find your mate, you just know." Itachi offers.

"Yeah. I guess so. How'd you know it was him?" He inquires.

"Sexual chemistry. It's animal instinct. You just can't keep your paws or fins off each other." Itachi explains.

"Ohhh." Sasuke says and nods.

Sasuke wasn't about to ask how Itachi had sexual chemistry with a man with shark teeth, gills, and blue skin. He files this under the _I don't want to know_ category.

The younger lion bites his lower lip. If mating was about sexual chemistry, then he and Naruto would qualify under that metric. Was that really all there was to it?

"It starts of that way. Obviously there's more. It's deeper than that. Otherwise almost everyone would have multiple mates. Most people can hold a strong sexual attraction for more than one person, especially hybrids that come from species that aren't monogamous." He elaborates.

"Oh." Sasuke says and clearly lost in deep thought.

"It doesn't happen automatically, foolish little brother. " Itachi chides him.

"No idea what you mean." Sasuke replies.

"You are thinking of him. Even if he's not your mate, you've been through Hell. If you enjoy his attention and he enjoys yours, there's no reason not to continue to do so." His brother tells him.

"I guess you're right. I'll think about it. I don't really want to led him on. I'm not sure if I'm even…" He trails off.

"Stable enough for a relationship? You're worried that you will black out, fight or flight instincts will kick in, and you might hurt him." Itachi finishes.

"What are you some kind of mind reader? He demands to know.

"No. Worse. I'm your brother. I know you." Itachi says and pokes his forehead.

In the morning, Sasuke leaves his family. He didn't want to, but he had to go with the other rescues. They were now letting the carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore types socialize. Well at least the ones that haven't proven to be too aggressive anyway.

"Sasuke! Come join us. It's so nice that now we can get to know each other without worrying about fighting to the death." A cheerful voice cries out.

Sasuke was a bit startled by how cheerful that voice was. That was creepy. But well it'd probably look good if he tried to socialize. That and Danzo was likely looking for any excuse to get rid of him. So he wouldn't give him one. He walks over.

"I'm Lee." The cheerful person says.

Lee as it turns out was a caterpillar hybrid. He had really bushy eyebrows. He also wore green spandex. The green spandex was too tight. Sasuke saw more of Lee than he frankly wanted to. But Lee turned out to be the least aggressive hybrid he'd ever met, other than that bunny.

"Sasuke." He says.

"I'm Tenten." A woman says.

Tenten was a coyote hybrid. She was more normal. To Sasuke she gave off a tomboyish vibe.

On and on the introductions went. Some highlights included Kiba a dog, Neji an eagle, Choji another elephant, and so forth. There was a lot of variety at Konoha, Sasuke decided. It was basically a hybrid zoo.

"Hey, you're Sasuke right?" He hears a rather large grizzly hybrid say.

The grizzly was female. But that didn't change the fact that she was enormous. She was built like an Amazon.

"Yeah." Sasuke answers.

"Stay away from Naruto. He's mine." She says.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke replies.

"He's mine. Our cubs are going to be the strongest in Konoha. You can't even have cubs with him. You're a lion, not a lioness!" She informs him.

"Well thanks for pointing that out. I never would have noticed I had a dick, if you didn't tell me. And as for cubs, there are these things called surrogates. Maybe you've fucking heard of them. Now let me point something out to you. If Naruto wanted you, he wouldn't be trying to jump me every chance he gets." Sasuke growls at her in annoyance.

"I have no idea what he sees in you other than a pretty face." She growls at him.

"You're about to find out." Sasuke changes into his lion form and roars.

"You wanna play kitty? Alright. Let's play." She says and turns into a grizzly bear.

Meanwhile, Naruto had just purchased two leather collars on them. One had ruby red stones in it. The other sapphire blue. He thought they were symbolic since they matched their eyes. But then he heard a roar. Fuck! He recognized that roar. Sasuke.

He rushes off towards the sound of that roar. When he got there, he blinks. Sasuke was in his lion form, snarling at a rather large grizzly. He recognized that grizzly.

It didn't take a genius to realize what had probably happened. She'd said something to Sasuke and set him off. He was getting really tired of people trying to get under Sasuke's fur.

"Lira. Stop it." Naruto growls and darts between them.

"You can't possibly want this fleabag. He can't even give you cubs." She says.

"Are you stupid, in addition to being ugly? I JUST explained to you that there are options such as surrogates. And it is still none of your business." Sasuke snarls.

"Don't call him a fleabag. Trust me, I groomed him myself. His fur is fucking spotless." Naruto says.

"You GROOMED him?!" She growls in outrage and makes a face as if the very idea of Naruto grooming Sasuke was disgusting.

Sasuke smirks. He was thoroughly enjoying seeing the look on her face. Take that, bitch. Hmpf.

"Yeah. I did. Stop provoking him. If he's not afraid to fight an elephant, I doubt he'd worry about taking on a grizzly. Come on Sasuke. She's not worth getting into trouble over." Naruto says.

"You're right." Sasuke says and gives the grizzly one last _Fuck you_ look before trotting off, next to Naruto.

"Never a dull moment with you, is there?" Naruto asks and laughs.

"It's not like I deliberately set out to attract these psychos." Sasuke scoffs.

"Yeah. I know. I think I have an idea to help clamp down on it though. I got you something." He says.

"You got me a present?" Sasuke asks and tilts his head to the side curiously.

"Yeah. Both of us actually. Come on. I'll take you to my room and show you there." He tells Sasuke and heads off.

Sasuke follows Naruto. He was curious what the blonde got him. That and he also wanted to see what Naruto's room looked like. He wondered if it was bigger than the one he shared with Jugo.

"Here we are." He says and opens the door.

"Your room is…like a palace compared to mine." Sasuke mutters.

"Oh that's just cause I've been here long and I get a pretty big salary. You'll move on up. Don't worry." Naruto says and pulls something out of the shopping bag.

"Good to know." Sasuke says and looks at what Naruto got them.

"They match. Hope I got the right size." He says.

"You got us…collars?" The other lion asks.

"Yeah. I think they are pretty badass looking really. And this way people know we are together. Makes a statement. Maybe that will stop them from harassing you so much." He says cheerfully.

"Well I guess if you are into the whole bondage scene…they are pretty nice collars." He admits.

Sasuke bites his lower lip. If he took the collar, it'd be broadcasting that he was with Naruto. It was a pretty serious step.

It was one thing to make out. Even tearing into that grizzly could be overlooked. She had attacked him first. But to wear a mark of ownership like this? Naruto was saying in a very big way that he wanted Sasuke and that he didn't care who knew it. It was both terrifying and erotic at the same time.

"If you don't want to wear it yet or you don't want to wear it ever, it's okay. I can understand if you're more of a private person. I just thought that it would help and it'd look hot on you." Naruto reassures him.

"I'll think about it?" Sasuke half says and half asks.

"Yeah. It's okay. Doesn't really matter. I mean I'd like you to wear it. But I'm not going to push it. It's just a symbol is all." The blonde tells him.

"A symbol of what?" Sasuke questions.

"That you're mine." Naruto states with such a possessiveness that it caused Sasuke to shiver.

"I don't think I remember agreeing to that." The dark haired lion hybrid points out.

"You did when you kissed me. I'd never push you into something you don't want. I can be patient. I know that it's harder for you than me. I mean, I have only the vaguest idea what you went through in that fight ring. But I know it was bad. I know that it's only natural you'd be scared to get close to someone. So I don't expect you to jump into my arms, not right away. But the second you want to jump, I'll be right here." He says and kisses his forehead.

"Good to know." Sasuke mutters.

"I mean it." He assures him.

"I know you do. About that grizzly…what is her deal?" He asks, wanting to change the subject.

"She likes me I guess. Well mostly she just wants strong cubs. She decided a lion hybrid was one way to get them. I don't want her. I mean I don't want to hurt her feelings. But I just am not interested in women. That and…I don't really find grizzlies to be sexy." He confesses.

"You better not. Cause if you found that bitch sexy, we would have issues." Sasuke states.

"I don't. But it's cute that you are jealous." He says with a smirk.

"I'm not jealous." Sasuke scoffs.

"Yes, you are. You don't need to be though. Like I said, you're mine. But I'm also yours." He tells him.


	6. Chapter 6

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys. I really didn't expect this story to get this much feedback ^^. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Notation: Mostly about the collar lol.

Chapter Six

Sasuke wasn't sure how it happened. But somehow he had fallen asleep in Naruto's room. He woke up, curled up against the blonde.

"How could I be that careless?" He mutters to himself as he slowly and carefully wiggles out of the other lion's protective hold.

He'd actually fallen asleep next to the other man. Sleeping was dangerous. It was especially dangerous and suicidal to fall asleep next to another hybrid. That was one of the first lessons you learned in the Arena.

Frowning, he looks around for some paper and something to write with. Eventually, he finds a note book and a pen. He tears a sheet out and writes the following note.

 _ **Naruto,**_

 _ **I woke up before you. Decided to go visit my family. Don't worry. I'll see you later.**_

 _ **Sasuke.**_

"That should do it. " He says and places it on top of Naruto's chest.

He pauses when he sees the collar Naruto got him. Sasuke still didn't know if he should actually wear it. But he decides to take it anyway.

Sasuke hadn't really explored his sexuality. He'd never really considered the whole bondage scene. But that's what the collar reminded him of.

It was pure black leather, very masculine he noted. His collar had little blue stones that looked like sapphires, but he suspected they were just lookalikes. He highly doubted hybrids got paid enough to afford the real thing. The sapphires had been arranged in such a way to spell out _Naruto's._

"Possessive fucker." Sasuke mutters under his breath and decides to take a closer look at Naruto's.

It was similar. Clearly it was made out of the same black leather. Unlike Sasuke's blue stones, his had ruby red stones. Naruto's collar spelled out, _Sasuke's._

He feels his face heating up in a blush. Well…he was possessive alright. Though it seemed that he considered possession to be a two way street.

Sasuke glances back at the blonde once more. He takes a deep breath and heads to the door. The black lion figured talking to Itachi or his parents might help add more perspective to the strange situation he found himself in. They were all mated. They'd know more about this than he would.

A few minutes later, Naruto wakes up. He stretches and expected to fall Sasuke next to him. He didn't feel anything though. He opens his eyes and frowns when he didn't see him. But he did see a slip of paper on his chest.

The lion hybrid grabs it and reads. Oh. He had been hoping that Sasuke would be there when he woke up. But at least he had left a note. That had to mean something right? Sasuke at least knew that Naruto would be worried about him and cared enough to let him know he was okay.

"Well it's a start." He says with a smile when he notices the collar he got Sasuke was missing.

Speaking of parents, he should probably go visit his. He changes and heads over to the house they shared. Mated pairs could have a house in case they decided to have cubs. It was Konoha's not so subtle way of encouraging breeding.

He knocks on the door and waits for someone to answer it. He didn't have to wait long. Kushina had really good hearing.

"There you are!" She says and gives him a good cuff behind the ears.

"OWE! What was that for?" He whines.

"You haven't visited us in over a week!" She growls.

"So you hit him? Kushina, my love…isn't that counterproductive?" Minato asks with a chuckle.

"No. It will teach him to visit more or get hit more." She says smugly.

"Uh huh. Naruto, what's that you got in your hand?" Minato asks.

"Oh. Um nothing." Naruto tries to hide the collar.

"Let me see." Kushina says and grabs it.

The red lioness darts inside. She blinks when she sees the collar. A collar with a name on it? It definitely wasn't Naruto putting his name on his collar though. It read _Sasuke._ It was a very handsome collar though.

"Who is Sasuke?" She asks.

"Well actually…that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you guys about." Naruto mumbles.

"I'll make us some ramen, while you explain." Minato offers and starts making Naruto's beloved noodles.

"Well you know how awhile ago, there was a big bust of Orochimaru's fight ring?" He begins by asking.

"Of course. There must have been hundreds of hybrids rescued. It's one of the largest busts we've done in years." Kushina says.

"Well Sasuke is one of the hybrids who was rescued." Naruot continues.

"And he got you a collar with his name on it?" Minato muses.

"Well sorta. I was the one who got the collars. I got him one too with my name on it. Not sure if he's going to wear it. I mean I know he's been through a lot, but considering everything…I kinda want everyone to know we are together. At least I think we are together." He rambles.

"Naruto, if he's a rescue case, he's probably just having a hard time adjusting. It's hard to go from your life being in danger every day to just living a normal life. That's without the added pressure of trying to find a mate. He probably just needs some time." His father offers.

"Yeah. I know. It's just hard. I've never felt this way about someone before. I mean it'd be one thing if I knew he wasn't interested. But I know he wants me too." The younger blonde says.

"How do you know that?" Kushina asks.

"Well we've kissed a couple times. He spent the night with me. Nothing happened. He just fell asleep. But still…" He replies.

"For a fighter to fall asleep next to you mean he was completely exhausted or it's a big display of trust. Doing that in a fight ring, even in the kennels is basically committing suicide." Minato states.

"Yeah! So I know that he likes me. I just think he's still adjusting. He's probably scared. He'd never admit that though. He's really proud." Their son explains.

"Scared of you or that he might be sent away?" Kushina asks.

"That he might be sent away. I mean Danzo, that asshole shot him up full of darts. Deidara provoked him though. Sasuke was in the hospital for days. Danzo has a habit of suggesting that hybrids be sent to other places for special help. Sasuke's probably worried that Danzo would do that to him. I won't let it happen. But I get why he'd be scared." He continues.

"Your father is right, sweetie. He just needs some time. So tell us more about him! What type of hybrid is he?" She asks excitedly, eager to meddle in her son's love life.

"He's a lion hybrid, like me. But he's black furred." Naruto answers.

"Black furred…like the Uchihas?" Minato inquires.

"Yeah. He's one of them. Sasuke is visiting his family right now. He thought they were dead. Itachi, that's his older brother, found us." The blonde informs them.

"Uchihas and Danzo are never a good combination. That man has had it out for that pride as long as they've been here. He's right to be worried. You should keep a close eye on him. I don't trust that man." Minato surprises Naruto by saying.

"Yeah. I'm not going to let him send Sasuke away!" Naruto promises.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was visiting with Itachi. Itachi wanted him to meet his mate. He wasn't kidding when he told Sasuke that Kisame was exotic. Damn blue skin, darker blue hair, shark teeth (which thankfully were retractable for Itachi…otherwise how the fuck could you kiss someone with that many lethal teeth?), and holy shit were those gills?!  
"Kisame, this is my brother, Sasuke. Sasuke this is my mate, Kisame." Itachi says.

"Yeah, he does kinda look like you." Kisame chuckles and offers his hand for Sasuke to shake.

Sasuke shakes it. He was a bit wary of all those teeth. Kisame seemed to realize this. The shark hybrid had a sadistic sense of humor because he didn't retract them.

Despite the species difference, the lion soon realizes that the shark did love his brother. It was in the way that Kisame's eyes would follow Itachi's every move. Subtle little touches here and there. Nothing explicit, just little things like his hand on Itachi's shoulder or running his fingers through the older lion's hair.

"So what's with the collar, kid?" Kisame asks.

"Collar?" That got Itachi's attention and he grabs it.

Itachi looks down at it. He reads the name spelled out on it. His older brother smirked and this caused Sasuke to suddenly find his feet really fucking fascinating.

"I suppose your relationship is progressing faster than I anticipated, if he's giving you something like this. Are you going to wear it in public or is this more for private…enjoyment?" Itachi asks slyly.

"He wants me to wear it in public. I keep getting harassed. People either want to jump me or they are upset that he wants to jump me. That or in Deidara's case he has to make smart mouthed comments." Sasuke answers.

"Deidara? What did he do?" Itachi growls in annoyance.

"He just made some suggestive comments about my relationship with Naruto. So naturally I kicked his fucking ass. That's when Danzo darted me. I was out for three days." Sasuke growls.

"I'll deal with Deidara. Danzo is problematic, but I'm not going to let that slide either. No one messes with my foolish little brother, except for me. Well and I suppose I can make an exception for Naruto." He adds as an afterthought.

"How generous." Sasuke says sarcastically.

"Yes, I thought so." Itachi says clearly pleased with himself.

"I missed you, even if you are a jerk sometimes." Sasuke says and hugs Itachi.

"I missed you too." Itachi says and embraces his brother.

"Awe isn't that sweet? Two kittens hugging each other." Kisame teases.

"Kisame." Itachi growls warningly.

"A family hug. I think I'll join in." He says and wraps his arms around them.

The shark hybrid was never one to miss such a wonderful opportunity. He couldn't resist giving Itachi's perfect ass a nice smack. That causes Itachi to snarl at him.

"You don't have to act tough just because your brother is here. Hell, his boyfriend is giving him a fucking collar to wear. I don't that he's that scandalized by me slapping your ass." He teases.

"Sasuke, look away. I am about to teach my lover, a lesson in manners." Itachi says and he tackles the other man to the floor.

Sasuke blinks. Damn. Itachi was vicious. The fur and scales were flying. He guessed this was their weird version of foreplay though. Soon enough, Kisame retracts his teeth and they were making out.

"Um yeah. I'm just gonna go now. You two have fun." The younger lion says, darting out of the room, and feeling more than a little freaked out.

They were so caught up in each other, Sasuke wasn't sure if Itachi heard him. Oh well. He looks at the collar and decides fuck it. If Itachi could be with a fucking shark. Sasuke could handle being with another lion. He places the collar on his neck.

Meanwhile, Sai finds Danzo. Danzo was not pleased at being disturbed again so soon. But he lets Sai in nonetheless.

"I trust you have important news to tell me. I am working on something important." He informs the horse hybrid.

"Sasuke has reconnected with his family." Sai states.

"He what?!" Danzo growls.

"He's aware of his family's presence on the base. He's already established contact according to Naruto. I thought you would like to be informed of this development." Sai finishes.

"You're right. That does complicate things. I suppose it was just a matter of time. The base is only so big. A new black lion was going to be noticed. I will figure something out. You may go now, unless you have further information?" He asks.

"His relationship with Naruto seems to be progressing. The blonde seems a bit sexually frustrated. Personally, I think he is just concerned that his small tail won't be able to satisfy the other lion." He says cheerfully.

He said it a little too cheerfully actually. Even Danzo was a little creeped out. Sai really did need to learn to fake emotions better. Oh well. That was a concern for another day.

"I am certain that Naruto's tail is not the issue. In any case, thank you. Go and see if you can't find out more." He dismisses the horse.

At that very moment, Jugo was wandering base. He was looking for Sasuke. The dark furred lion hadn't come back to their dorms last night. Jugo was growing worried for his friend's safety.

He lets out a sigh of relief when he finally spots him. The elephant walks over. The larger hybrid tilts his head. Sasuke was wearing a collar? That was new. As far as he knew, the Uchiha didn't really accessorize.

"Hey, Jugo. Sorry about last night. I just kinda fell asleep at Naruto's place." He utters an apology.

"It's alright. I see things are going…well." He looks at the collar and Sasuke looks away.

"He's got one too. But yeah. Naruto wants to make us…official, I guess. He said I could wear it or not. Naruto doesn't know that I'm wearing it yet." Sasuke admits.

"Oh. Well that's still great that you found someone." Jugo says.

"Yeah. It's still new though. I'm not really sure if this is a good idea…" He confesses.

"I can get that. I mean just a couple weeks ago, you were fighting other lion hybrids. Now one is trying to seduce you. It's gotta be jarring. Speaking of finding someone, do you think that bunny would be interested in an interspecies relationship?" He asks curiously.

"Hinata? I don't know really. She's cute though…if you like women. Really? A bunny and an elephant?" He asks.

"There have been stranger matches." He defends himself.

"Guess so. Well you are both herbivores. So that's a start anyway. She might like the protection that someone of your strength could offer." Sasuke encourages him.

After promising his mom that he would visit more, Naruto eventually leaves his parents. He did still have a day job after all. The blonde really wanted to go find Sasuke. But he didn't want to ruin his family time either. He could wait a few hours. He'd see Sasuke soon. His note had even said so.

A few hours felt like an eternity. He'd been assigned paperwork duty. There was still so much to do when it came to getting the new rescues registered and monitoring their progress.

God, he hated paperwork! Finally though, the clock hits five. Naruto races out of the office and starts barreling towards his home. That's when he over heard people talking.

He recognized the first voice. That was Sasuke's elephant friend. What was his name? Jugo! Yeah that's it. And Sasuke was with him!

Naruto knew it was wrong. But hides behind the corner and decides to listen in. If they didn't want to be overheard, they wouldn't be having the conversation out in the hallway, right?

 _"Hey, Jugo. Sorry about last night. I just kinda fell asleep at Naruto's place."_ He hears Sasuke apologize.

He smiles. Sasuke didn't seem to have a problem with letting his friend know that he had spent the night at his place. That was a good sign. He wasn't embarrassed about what sort of conclusions the elephant might form from hearing that.

 _"It's alright. I see things are going…well."_ The orange haired man says and looks at Sasuke's collar.

Sasuke was wearing the collar! YES! That was an amazing sign and fuck it looked hot on him. Just like Naruto knew it would. Then again this was Sasuke. Sasuke could look hot in a potato sack.

 _"He's got one too. But yeah. Naruto wants to make us…official, I guess. He said I could wear it or not. Naruto doesn't know that I'm wearing it yet."_ Sasuke admits and obviously didn't know that Naruto was aware of it because he was standing only a few feet away.

 _"Oh. Well that's still great that you found someone."_ Jugo says.

 _"Yeah. It's still new though. I'm not really sure if this is a good idea…"_ He confesses and Naruto felt his heart almost shatter at this.

His furry ears drooped. He felt like someone had just yanked out his heart and stomped on it. Sasuke still wasn't sure about him. But he was willing to wear the collar. So he must like him. He just had to convince Sasuke is all. Yeah, that was it.

The conversation shifted topics. Jugo was interested in Hinata. Naruto didn't see that one coming. Well no offense to Jugo, but he was far more interested in hearing what Sasuke thought about them than what the elephant thought of the cute bunny.

He waits for them to finish their conversation. Jugo left to go find Hinata. The blonde decides it was now or never and turns the corner.

"Hey!" He says.

Oh that was smooth. Really fucking smooth. He mentally kicked himself. His potential mate had just accepted a mark of ownership on him and all he could come up with was hey?!

"Hey." Sasuke says.

Okay. Well it looked like Sasuke was at a loss for words too. Naruto bounds over to him.

"So I decided to wear it…you know at least for now." Sasuke mumbles.

Sasuke was mumbling. That was very not like Sasuke. He definitely wasn't sure about it.

That hurt Naruto. He wanted Sasuke to be sure. But he knew that the black lion just needed some reassurance.

"I'm glad. I'll wear mine too." He murmurs and puts it on.

"It looks good on you." Sasuke says, seeming to feel a bit better now that the "power disparity" had evened out.

"Thanks. So does yours. I want you to know that you made me really happy. I promise you won't regret it." He says and pushes Sasuke against the wall.

He couldn't help it. His animal side was screaming at him to claim Sasuke. He was receptive…ish. His human side wanted to convince Sasuke that he was a good choice. He wanted Sasuke to feel confident in his decision.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asks.

He didn't get to finish his question. The blonde captured his lips with his own. Sasuke moans into the kiss and wraps his arms around the blonde's neck. For the moment his doubts were banished by the other lion's passionate kiss.

It felt so good. For years, Sasuke had been deprived of the power of a loving touch. He also had never enjoyed the touch of a lover.

Maybe that was why it felt so intense. Maybe he was just naturally sensitive. Sasuke figured those two things played a role. But if he was being honest with himself, Naruto was just a really good kisser.

The blonde fucking lost it when he heard Sasuke's moan. He growls in pleasure and his tail swishes wildly. He grinds up against his soon to be lover.

Naruto was going to fuck him until he couldn't think straight. He was going to make him feel so good that the dark haired man would never want to leave his side again.

At least that was Naruto's plan, Sasuke seemed to have other plans. When he felt the blonde grind against him, he knew that Naruto was getting way too excited. They were in a hallway for Godsakes.

"Naruto…we are still in the hallway. I'm not sleeping with you were anyone could see us. I'm not an exhibitionist." Sasuke says, after breaking the kiss.

"Ohhh. Guess I got a little carried away there. Huh?" He asks sheepishly.

"A little. Yeah." Sasuke agrees.

"You said not in the hallway…if we went back to your room?" He lets the question dangle in the air.

"We could make out some more." Sasuke offers.

"Sasuke." He growls in frustration.

"Naruto, should we really have this conversation out in the middle of a hallway?" He tries to reason with him.

"Alright. You have a point there." Naruto concedes and drags the other lion back to Sasuke's dorm. He shuts the door behind them and locks it.

Sasuke tilts his head. He knew that Naruto wanted more than just kissing. But he wasn't exactly sure how persistent the blonde would be about pressing the issue. He'd given him a lot of space so far. But now Sasuke had basically told Naruto and anyone who could see his collar, that he wanted the blue eyed hybrid. So things were different.

Naruto pushes Sasuke on to the bed. Sasuke gulps a bit. The blonde removes his collar and begins placing kisses and love bites along his neck.

Sasuke groans and arches into the necking. His mind might not be sure what he wanted. But his body was more than happy to go along with Naruto's plan.

"I know I should be patient. You've been through so much. I just want you so badly. I want to make you feel GOOD. I want to prove that I can be a good mate for you." Naruto murmurs and looks down at Sasuke, his sapphire blue eyes turning darker with lust.

"You do make me feel good." Sasuke tells him.

"Then why won't you let me make you feel even better?" He asks and bites down on Sasuke's neck lightly, drawing a louder moan from him.

"It's not smart." Sasuke answers.

Naruto didn't seem to care about smart. His hands slide south and begin unzipping Sasuke's pants. Sasuke wanted him. He knew that he did. He just needed a little convincing.

"Why not?" He asks.

"Danzo…I might still get sent away. I don't want to get close to you and get sent away. I don't want to hurt you like that." He answers.

"That's it? So if it wasn't for him, you'd be willing?" Naruto asks.

"Well…not immediately. But yeah…it'd help a lot." He admits.

"You're worried about leaving and hurting me. I thought maybe you were unsure about me." He says.

"I am a little. Not about you exactly. But about relationships in general. It's more that they fucked with my head than anything you did. You're great." Sasuke says in a rush.

"Oh. It's okay. I get it. I'm being a jerk. I shouldn't jump you like that when you aren't ready." Naruto says with a sigh.

"I like it when you jump me." Sasuke admits.

"Good. Because I'm probably going to be doing a lot of it. Don't worry about Danzo. I'll deal with him. Granny Tsunade loves me. She keeps him on a fairly short leash. I'm not going to let your sexy ass get shipped off to God knows where." Naruto says.

"I wouldn't underestimate him. But I don't want to talk about him anymore." Sasuke says and kisses Naruto.

Sasuke and Naruto spent the rest of the day kissing, caressing, and talking. Well Naruto did most of the talking. Sasuke seemed more introverted either by nature or as a defense mechanism to survive in the Arena.

Naruto wasn't sure. But Sasuke seemed happy to listen and had accepted his place in Naruto's arms. So Naruto was happy with that for now. Sasuke would share more when he was ready.


	7. Chapter 7

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews. Looks like people are definitely leaning NaruSasu on this one.

Chapter Warning: Just a reminder that Sasuke has been through some very serious stuff. You don't escape from something like The Arena without some issues. It will be dramatic in this chapter for a bit, but I only write happy endings ;).

Chapter Seven

"You hungry?" Naruto asks Sasuke after awhile.

"Starving." Sasuke admits.

"I'll make us something." The blonde says and heads to the kitchen.

"You cook?" Sasuke asks curiously.

"Well not much. But I can warm up a couple steaks for us." The other lion answers.

"Steak sounds good." Sasuke says and sits at the kitchen table, watching Naruto cook.

He feels himself salivating at the scent of cooking steak. Sasuke wasn't used to cooked meat. Normally, he killed what he ate.

Wild animals or livestock were brought in for him to hunt. It was a rare day when he didn't kill what he ate. They wanted to nurture his killer instinct.

"DAMMIT!" Naruto growls.

He had been cutting up the steak when he accidentally sliced himself with the knife. It wasn't serious. But he was bleeding. The blonde didn't count on the scent and sight of blood would set Sasuke off.

Sasuke growls and slams into Naruto, pinning him to the ground. His human teeth were quickly becoming fangs and his fingernails were morphing into claws. Naruto realized what was going on. He was having an episode. Clearly this was PTSD.

 _Blood! Blood had been drawn. He had to go in for the kill now. The other lion was injured. Now was the time to attack. He would have done it to him._

 _Sasuke had to do it now. He'd grant the other lion a quick death. He'd fought well. He didn't deserve to suffer. But Sasuke wasn't going to die today._

The dark lion hybrid didn't see Naruto as Naruto at the moment. He only saw one of many other lion hybrids he had faced in the Arena. If he wanted to live, he needed to kill him.

"Sasuke! Stop it! It's me!" Naruto growls and tries to throw Sasuke off him.

He didn't want to hurt him. But he wasn't going to let Sasuke kill him either. That was a very real possibility. Sasuke was a trained killer. A trained killer who seemed to genuinely believe he was fighting for his life.

"DIE!" Sasuke roars, he leans down, bares his fangs, and was clearly going to try to rip Naruto's throat out.

"Dammit. Sasuke, snap out of it!" Naruto growls and uses all his strength to flip them.

It was no use though. Sasuke was thrashing wildly underneath him. His fangs and claws trying to inflict as much damage as he could. Thankfully, Naruto had him firmly pinned.

"Sasuke, it's me. It's okay. See? See my collar? What's it say?" He asks.

Sasuke was fighting for his life. This lion was so strange. He had Sasuke pinned and he hadn't gone in for the kill yet? Was he stupid? He was muttering something about a collar too.

The darker lion decides to take a chance. He looks at the collar. It had his name on it. That didn't make any sense.

Why did his opponent have his name on him? Then it clicked. This wasn't an enemy combatant in the ring. This was Naruto.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry." He whispers horrified and his furry ears droop in shame.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. I'm okay. You're okay." Naruto says.

"It's not okay. I could have killed you. If you weren't as strong as you are, I would have. I should go." Sasuke says from underneath him.

"You're not going anywhere. It was not your fault. Nobody comes out of the situation you did without some scars. They aren't always just physical. We can have you looked at by a doctor. PTSD is very common for former fighters. We'll get you help. You'll see." The blonde replies and kisses Sasuke's forehead.

"Naruto, can you get off me?" He asks.

"No. You'll run off. I'm not going to let you do that. It was just an accident. I know you didn't mean it. So don't beat yourself up over it." He orders him.

"I won't run off." He promises.

"Really?" Naruto asks and searches Sasuke's face for any hints of deception.

"Really." He says and nods.

"Alright. Remember I will knock you right back on your sexy ass if you try to run." Naruto warns him and lets him up.

"Pft. I wouldn't be so sure of that. I was undefeated for a reason." Sasuke says with a smirk.

"Someone's feeling cocky." Naruto replies with amusement.

"I prefer to think of it as being realistically confident in my battle prowess." The darker lion informs him.

"I know you're a badass and everything. But I'm like a super badass." The blonde says cockily.

"Uh huh." Sasuke says skeptically.

"It's true." Naruto states with a few vigorous nods.

"You're easy to beat. I only have to flash a bit of skin and you'd be so easily distracted, it'd be easy to beat you." Sasuke says smugly.

"Well that's true. I doubt you'd do that though. You strike me as the type of lion that prefers to win based on their own strength and not based on your impressive sex appeal." Naruto taunts Sasuke.

"I prefer it. But I'll do whatever it takes to win. I'm no Cub Scout." Sasuke warns him.

"Glad to hear it. I'd feel creepy if I was lusting after a Cub Scout." He replies.

"For good reason." Sasuke agrees.

"You going to be okay though? Seriously?" Naruto asks in concern.

"I don't know. I didn't mean to attack you. I just blacked out. I thought I survived the Arena with my sanity intact. It seems I didn't." He mutters.

"You are still sane. PTSD doesn't mean you are insane or crazy. Like I said before, we'll get you some help. Don't worry, okay?" He murmurs soothingly.

"Why aren't you angry with me? I attacked you." Sasuke questions.

"I know you didn't mean to do it. I can't hold that against you. It makes me want to kill Orochimaru. That creep put you and lots of other hybrids through Hell. All in the name of profits. Don't even get me started on Danzo. If it wasn't for him, I would have already claimed that sexy ass of yours." He continues.

"What makes you think you are the one doing the mounting?" Sasuke asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I know you. You'd never admit it, but secretly you want someone to take care of you. Someone that you can let your guard down with and feel safe. That and if you really had a problem with it, you would have objected to me pushing you against the wall so much. Those hot little _fuck me_ moans of yours when I'm on top of you, also kinda clued me in." Naruto states proudly.

"I do not have _fuck me_ moans." Sasuke scowls at him.

"Yes, yes you do. Amazing ones really. You have no idea how much they turn me on." He informs him cheerfully.

"Weird." Sasuke muses.

"What's weird?" Naruto asks.

"I didn't think I hit you. But I must have hit you and heard. You are imagining things because there is no way that I was moaning like that." Sasuke informs him.

"Cute. Really cute, Sasuke." Naruto says and rolls his eyes.

"And I am a lion. I am not cute. I am regal, fearsome, handsome, and deadly. I am not cute. Cute is for house cat hybrids." He scoffs.

"You are all those things and more." Naruto agrees.

Sasuke sighs and reaches out to Naruto. He caresses the blonde's cheek. He smiles sadly when the blonde actually leans into his touch.

"But I'm not safe. We both know that. I'll go get checked out. But I couldn't live with myself if I hurt the first person to show me kindness in years. So for now…it'd probably be better if you stayed away from me." Sasuke says.

"Sasuke, it's not your fault. Let it go. I'll just be careful not to get hurt around you. It was the blood that set you off. You were fine this entire time until then. As far as triggers go, that's pretty easy to avoid." Naruto tries to reassure him.

"I don't want to take that chance. I'm not saying that I don't want you. I'm just saying that it'd be smart to wait. Wait until I know that I'm safe. I'm not safe right now." He says and reaches for his collar.

"Don't you dare take that off, bastard!" Naruto growls.

"This way you'll know. I'll ask you for it again, when I'm fixed." Sasuke says.

"You don't need fixed! You aren't broken!" The blonde growls.

"Yes, I am Naruto. I almost killed you." The dark haired lion says softly.

"I told you that I wouldn't force you into anything you want. But this is different. You want me. I know you do. So knock it off. I know you are worried about me. I appreciate it. I really do. But I can handle myself." He tells him and captures his lips in a bruising kiss.

Sasuke was about to respond. He really was. The raven haired lion had even opened his mouth to reply. That's when Naruto kissed him and the blonde was more than happy to take advantage of his opened mouth.

He knew that he should pull away. Sasuke should definitely try to talk some sense into Naruto. But there was no arguing with the sheer power of that kiss. It was so intense. It was like Naruto was trying to brand him. He moans into it and wraps his arms around the blonde's neck, as he starts to respond.

"That's better." Naruto purrs darkly in approval before returning to the kiss.

"What were we talking about again?" Sasuke murmurs.

"Your _fuck me_ moans." The blonde answers.

"Right." Sasuke agrees and glides his tongue along Naruto's in a seductive dance.

Naruto smiles into the kiss. That was better. Sasuke just needed some sense screwed into him, it seemed. Well at least kissed into him.

"So you're keeping the collar." He tells him.

"I don't deserve it. But yeah. I'm keeping it." He says.

"Yes, you do." Naruto says and brushes his thumb over Sasuke's lower lip, before kissing him again.

"Mmm." Sasuke moans into the kiss.

Meanwhile with Minato and Kushina. Minato was trying to stop his wife. She was a wonderful mate. But she could be really aggressive at times, especially when it came to their son.

"Kushina, the boys are just starting their relationship. I don't think it's wise to go and Inquisition the boy's family." He tells her.

"Pft! They have collars. They are official. We should go meet our new in-laws." She says smugly.

"They aren't our in-laws yet. You don't want to embarrass Naruto or scare Sasuke off, do you?" He asks desperately.

"Oh you are being silly. You are worrying over nothing." She says and drags her mate off behind her.

Soon enough she finds the Uchiha Pride's spot on base. She knocks and waits impatiently. Mikoto answers the door and tilts her head to the side. She knew who Minato and Kushina were, but they hadn't interacted before. They had such different jobs.

"Hello?" She says uncertainly.

"Hello. I'm Kushina. This is my mate, Minato." The red head states.

"Pleasure to meet you both. How can I help you?" The lioness asks and her tail swishes curiously.

"Well it seems that our boys, like each other. I think they'll end up mating. So I thought it'd be a good idea to get to know each other." She says cheerfully.

"Oh. Well I suppose that makes sense. But aren't you jumping the gun a little bit? They are just getting to know each other." She muses.

"Doesn't matter. When you find the one, it is only a matter of time. I saw the look on my son's face. Sasuke is his _The One._ " She states in a voice that said she would not tolerate any debate on this matter.

"Well that's true." Mikoto says and rubs the back of her head sheepishly, while looking at her mate like… _Help me!_

"You'll have to forgive, my mate. She's just very excited that Naruto has taken such a liking to your son." Minato says.

"It's alright. It's natural to be excited about such things. Between you and me, I'm relieved. Our eldest mated a shark hybrid." Fugaku says.

"FUGAKU!" Mikoto growls warningly.

"What? It's the truth. I am happy Itachi is in love. But it is still so…unusual. He's a good son-in-law though. He makes Itachi happy. That's what matters." He continues, clearly trying to save himself from Mikoto's wrath.

"That's better. You are still sleeping on the couch until you can learn to stop teasing our son's mate!" She says.

"Mikoto…I was only teasing." He says.

"Uh huh. You are still on the couch until I am satisfied that you have learned your lesson." She informs him.

"Don't be absurd. You know that you would miss me in our bed, as much as I would miss you." He states smugly.

"That is true. But it is for your own good. I won't tolerate you teasing Kisame. He's been a very good mate to Itachi." She huffs.

"Alright. Alright. Can we offer you anything to eat or drink?" Fugaku relents.

"Ramen would be greatly appreciated, if you have it." Minato pipes up hopefully.

"Ramen? Are you a lion or a human college student?" He chuckles.

"He has weird tastes. A wonderful mate, but there is something seriously strange about his taste buds. Sometimes I think he was supposed to be a herbivore." Kushina muses.

"Well we all have our eccentricities." Mikoto says.

"Indeed. Is there anything about Sasuke that Naruto should know about? You know to make the whole mating process flow more smoothly?" Kushina asks.

"We haven't seen Sasuke since he was seven until very recently. I can tell you what sort of cub he was. But as to what kind of man he is, I'm afraid we are just as much at a loss as you." Mikoto and Fugaku sigh.

"Oh. Well Naruto is a very sweet boy. He's hyper though. So Sasuke will need a lot of energy to keep up with him. And like his father, he's obsessed with ramen." She shakes her head and sighs.

"I'm certain that Sasuke is more than capable of keeping up with him. Sasuke tells me he was undefeated in the Arena." Fugaku says with a smirk.

"He'd have to be. I don't think they let you live too long if you lose." Minato offers.

"Sadly, that is true. Come on. Let's get you your ramen. I think Mikoto and Kushina have some conspiring to do." He muses and heads to the kitchen with the blond lion.

"Your son does have such beautiful eyes. I hope if they decide to use surrogates and have cubs, that at least one of them inherits them." Mikoto says.

"That's very kind of you to say. I'm afraid, I haven't seen Sasuke yet. So I can't really comment. I'm sure he must be very handsome to have caught my son's eye though." She offers.

"What do you think they are talking about?" Minato asks Fugaku.

"Women are women. They are probably talking about grand cubs. I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the day they had a list of potential names." The older lion states.

"…Yes, I think you're probably right about that." He laughs somewhat nervously and thanks Fugaku for the ramen.

"I must admit, that I don't know Naruto that well. So I do have concerns. Clearly one of them will end up taking the more…aggressive role. Sasuke is used to being aggressive in the Arena. If Naruto doesn't want to be the more…accommodating of the two, it could result in awkwardness." He says.

"I understand your concerns. Well Naruto is used to being the chaser. I don't ask for details, but I imagine he prefers to be the one who does the mounting." Minato offers awkwardly.

"That's what I'm afraid of. Considering what Sasuke has been through, I have a hard time imagining he'd be willing to make himself that vulnerable." The older Uchiha says.

"Yes. Well hopefully they can work something out. Naruto really is over the moon for your boy." The blonde says.

"Good. He needs a loving mate. It will make the healing process so much easier on him." Fugaku states.

"Yes. Everyone should have a loving mate. Speaking of loving mates, we should probably check on ours. God only knows what sort of mischief those two are getting up to." Minato says with a chuckle.

"Of course." He says and the men make their way back to their mates.

Meanwhile Danzo was doing some paperwork. He smirks when he sees Sasuke's newest file. He marks him as a potential field agent. Field agents were basically the hybrid version of cops. Naruto was a field agent.

Sasuke would have to go a rather intensive physical and mental training program. He was positive that the dark hybrid could pass any physical test given to him. But when it came to sparring with other cadets or teachers, he was sure Sasuke would lose control. He'd lose control, reverting back to his fight or flight instincts that he had learned in the Arena. Then he would have an excuse to send him away.

If by some miracle, he made it out of the combat portion…there was always the mental portion. He smirks. There was no doubt that Sasuke was suffering from some sort of psychological problems caused by his time fighting.

It was only natural. It was an easily exploitable weakness. There was more than one way to skin a cat…or lion hybrid in this case.

"Sai, please make sure to give my recommendations to Tsunade." He says and hands him the folder.

"Of course." The horse hybrid says and takes the folder.

Sai wandered out into the hall. He heard something strange coming from a nearby room. Curious, he decides to listen in. He had good hearing and could hear what was going on inside that room.

Sai feels his face heat up. It didn't take long to figure out what was going inside that room. He recognized Naruto's voice with ease. It didn't take long to figure out that he was with Sasuke.

"Well no one can doubt their physical attraction at least." He mutters to himself and looks at the file.

He knew what Danzo was planning. He was also well aware that someone with Sasuke's background shouldn't be anywhere near the field agent training program for at least a year or two. To push him into it now, well it would end in disaster.

"He wants an excuse to send him away, like he did my brother." He mutters.

Sai had thought he had successfully buried all emotions. But it seemed he hadn't. He had loved his brother. They had been close. It had broken him the day he was sent away.

"Not this time." He says and rips up that paper with Sasuke's recommendation on it.

He hums to himself as he trots off to Tsunade's office. The horse hybrid realized that it was a temporary fix. Sooner or later Danzo would realize that Tsunade either didn't get the recommendation or was ignoring it. But he had bought them some time. Hopefully they would use it wisely.

With Sasuke and Naruto, Sasuke breaks the kiss. He needed air. Naruto's kisses were so addicting, that sometimes he forgot about that whole needing to breath thing. He pants and tries to catch his breath.

"You know you can breathe through your nose, when you kiss…right?" He asks.

"I can?" Sasuke asks as thought the idea had never occurred to him.

"Yeah. Wait…you never kissed anyone before me?" The blonde asks.

"I was taken from my family when I was seven. At the fight ring, I didn't see the point in getting close to someone who might die the next day in a fight. So I didn't…kiss anyone or do anything else that would be considered affectionate. You're my first…everything." Sasuke admits.

Naruto blinks. No way. Sasuke had never even kissed someone else before? How the Hell could the other lion kiss so damn good then? Must be animal instincts.

He felt a surge of primal pleasure. For some reason, it really pleased him that Sasuke hadn't been with anyone else. The blonde knew he was a hypocrite in this respect. But he didn't care.

It just made him want to claim the darker lion more. He'd never felt such a hot rush of lust before so fast. It was almost dizzying.

"Naruto? Does that bother you?" Sasuke asks, not sure what to make of his silence.

Maybe Naruto wanted someone who knew what he was doing. Sasuke knew the basic mechanics of sex. Living in the Arena, he had accidentally walked in on or by more than a few frantic couplings. He just had never actually participated in them.

"No. It doesn't bother me. It's the opposite really." Naruto purrs into his ear and grinds against the other man to show what he meant.

"Oh. You are a possessive bastard. First the collar and now you are hard because no one's touched me before." Sasuke says and raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I'm possessive. Is that a problem?" The blonde asks.

"No. I don't think so anyway. I wouldn't know. It's all still really new." Sasuke admits.

"Good. Like I told you before, you're mine and I'm yours. You might as well get used to it." The blonde tells him and kisses his forehead.


	8. Chapter 8

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews. Reviews aren't showing up on the site, but I can see them in my email. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Eight

Sasuke sighs as he watches Naruto sleep. He knew that the blonde was likely disappointed. He clearly wanted want more than just kissing. But Sasuke didn't think it was safe.

He had already attacked Naruto the night before. He hadn't meant to and that's what made it so terrifying. The dark haired lion hybrid wasn't fully in control of himself.

"Why does everything have to be so complicated?" He mutters to himself.

Sasuke couldn't help but take this opportunity to look at his potential lover. Naruto apparently slept without a shirt. Sasuke appreciated this fact a great deal. It allowed him to admire the blonde's muscular chest and to indulge in a little exploring.

"Wow." He murmurs, revealing in the feeling of power underneath his fingertips.

Sasuke wasn't delusional. He knew his own build tended more towards being lithe and sleeker muscle. The darker hybrid was built for speed, more than raw power. He had a lot of strength of course, but if it came to brute force…he was pretty sure that Naruto probably had him beat in that department.

"His tan's pretty thorough. He must sunbathe a lot." He mutters as he notes that Naruto's face, arms, and chest were all the same sun kissed color.

The Uchiha found himself curious to see how far down that tan extended. He glides his hands over Naruto's biceps and shivers. He was strong. Really strong.

Normally that would have made him concerned. But for some reason, it excited him when it came to Naruto. Probably because they had spent most of last night making out.

Sasuke had never really given much thought to his sex drive before Naruto. But now that he had tasted physical affection…he wanted more of it. He just didn't think it was safe. Naruto's safety came first.

Naruto continued to pretend to be asleep. He didn't want to spoil the moment. Sasuke wasn't exactly shy, but he didn't really initiate. Why the other man had chosen to wait until he was asleep, he didn't know. It felt good though.

"I'll surprise him with breakfast." Sasuke murmurs and gets off the bed.

He didn't want to do something stupid. If he kept up his exploration, he probably would. Naruto would go along with it. What if Sasuke snapped and hurt him?

Naruto mourns the loss of contact. He knew that Sasuke felt conflicted. He was worried about him. But he couldn't help but feel a surge at masculine pride. At least Sasuke was attracted to him.

Once Sasuke was in the kitchen, Naruto decides to get up. He glides after his intended. He smiles and wraps his arms around Sasuke's waist, who was currently pouring some milk into glasses for them.

"I like it when you touch me. You should do it more often…when I'm not pretending to be asleep." He breathes hotly into the other man's ear, which elicited a shiver from Sasuke.

"You were awake?" Sasuke asks and sounded embarrassed.

"Yeah. But I didn't want to interrupt. It felt good, even if you kept it fairly tame." He answers.

"What did you expect me to grab your dick while you were asleep?" Sasuke scoffs.

"You can grab that anytime you want." Naruto assures him.

"…" Sasuke didn't even know who to respond to that.

"I guess considering how new you are to all this, that's probably still a bit far off." Naruto offers.

"A bit. Yeah." Sasuke says and he starts making them pancakes.

"Thought you hunted your food. Where did you learn how to cook?" Naruto asks curiously.

"I read the instructions on the box. It's not that hard to figure out." Sasuke says in a sassy fashion.

"Smartass." Naruto says and slaps Sasuke's ass.

This earned a dark scowl from the other lion. Naruto laughs. Sasuke + emotion = hilarious.

"I swear to God, if I get a bruise on my ass from that, you are a dead lion walking." Sasuke warns him.

"Awe poor baby. Want me to check? I can kiss it better." Naruto offers.

"You fucking pervert." Sasuke says and rolls his eyes.

"Says the man who was molesting me when he thought I was asleep." The blonde retorts smugly.

"I wasn't molesting you. I was just looking." Sasuke says defensively.

"Oh there was more than looking going on. There was definitely some touching involved. But that's okay. Like I said, I like it when you touch me. You should do it more often. You don't have to be so shy." He says and rests his head on top of Sasuke's.

"I'm not shy!" Sasuke snaps.

"Oh really? Is that why we've only kissed, even though you wear my mark?" Naruto says and traces the collar with his fingertips.

"You damn well know why I haven't gone further. There's Danzo and I could hurt you. This isn't a game Naruto. I don't want to hurt you, emotionally or physically." Sasuke growls at him and seems intent on storming out of the place.

"Sasuke, wait." Naruto says and grabs him by the waist before he could leave.

"No! You really don't get it, do you? I'm trying to protect you!" Sasuke snarls at him.

"Sasuke, I don't need protection. Besides, I'm willing to take the risk. You're more than worth it." Naruto says.

"Well maybe I don't you to take that risk! But then you kiss me and my good judgment stops working." Sasuke growls.

"Well if that's all that it takes." Naruto murmurs and pulls the anxious lion into his arms, for another kiss.

"Naruto." Sasuke says as he kisses back.

"Yeah?" He asks, continuing the kiss.

"That's not fair. I can't think straight when you do that." He sighs and moans into the kiss.

"I don't really want you thinking straight ever. I much prefer your thoughts to be 100% gay. Thanks." Naruto teases.

"You are such a dumbass. You know exactly what I meant." Sasuke growls.

"You are hot when you are angry. You know that right?" He asks.

"Naruto, this is serious." The other man says.

"I know. I meant what I said. You are worth it. Don't let Danzo or your past rob you of your, our future. Alright?" He says and kisses Sauke's forehead.

"What's on the schedule for today?" Sasuke says with a sigh.

"You are supposed to do the obstacle course. Just to check your physical fitness. I know that won't be an issue for you." Naruto says.

"Alright. That's not so bad. It'll give me a chance to stretch my legs. In my humanoid or animal form?" Sasuke questions.

"Both." The blonde answers.

"I can work with that. I'll see you later. I imagine you have an actual job to do besides trying to get into my pants." The dark haired lion muses.

"Yeah. But trust me, I much prefer trying to seduce you to actual field work. I mean I love my job and all…but yeah." Naruto says and takes out a map.

"This is the third floor. You'll wanna go in the second door on the left to get to the course." The blonde explains.

"Thanks." Sasuke says and he heads off.

Sasuke blinks at the obstacle course. It was pretty intense. Clearly it was designed to test speed, agility, endurance, strength, and even intelligence. He changes to his lion form.

The Uchiha thought it would be best to just let the beast take over for a bit. Things were too complicated. He wanted what Naruto wanted. But he was clearly the smarter of the two.

He wasn't going to risk Naruto's heart or body just for sex. No matter how mindblowing it might be. Speaking of blowing…Sasuke's thoughts took a decidedly more sensual turn. He mentally kicked himself. He did not need to go through the course with a hardon.

"Alright, just do your best. If it gets too rough, just blow the whistle, and we'll stop it." Another hybrid tells Sasuke as he places a necklace with a whistle around his neck.

Sasuke nods and takes off. It felt good. It felt so fucking good to be on all fours again and testing himself. Pushing himself to his physical and mental limits. He was going to get the best time for this obstacle course! (Sasuke was naturally competitive.)

Meanwhile with Gaara and Naruto, Gaara shakes his head. Oh boy. The red head knew an impending disaster when he saw one. The blonde wanted to go watch his boyfriend on the obstacle course. The leopard couldn't begin to list all the of the ways that was a bad idea.

"Naruto, no. He'll be fine. If it gets too rough, he can blow the whistle. There's no need to worry. Besides, he's an undefeated fighter…if anyone can handle it, it is him." Gaara pleads.

"Oh, I know he can handle it. I just want to watch his sexy ass run all over the place." Naruto says brightly.

Gaara smacks his forehead with his hand. Only Naruto. He couldn't help but smile though. He was glad his friend had found happiness. Sighing, he allows himself to be dragged off to watch Sasuke on the obstacle course.

"Ready…get set…GO!" The instructor says.

Sasuke takes off like a bullet. Gaara blinks. Naruto's intended was fast. Very fast. He wasn't cheetah fast, but he was probably as close as a lion hybrid could get. He was also very agile, able to weave through hoops with ease.

He slams his body onto some punching bags that were blocking his path, knocking them over. If the red head had to guess he'd say that the black lion had probably made it through the course in under 2 minutes. A record for animal forms.

"That bastard beat my record." Naruto pouts.

"Well let's see how he does in his human form." Gaara offers.

"Yeah!" Naruto says smugly.

There was no possible way that Sasuke could beat THAT record. The instructor gives Sasuke a cool down period. Then he has the lion shift and do the course in his humanoid form. Sasuke didn't beat Naruto's humanoid record, but he came within 30 seconds of it.

"There. Now is your manly pride soothed?" Gaara teases.

"Yeah. A little." Naruto admits.

Meanwhile, Tsunade was in her office. She was looking over the recommendations for what to do with the newest hybrids. She frowns. That was strange. There was nothing about Sasuke in there.

"It's not like Danzo to overlook such a rare hybrid." She mutters to herself.

The blonde shrugs it off. Maybe he was just overworked. Oh how she would love for that viper to just retire. She hated constantly watching her back. The busty woman was well aware that Danzo was gunning for her position. It would be a cold day in Hell before he got it though.

That's when the obstacle course instructor came in. He was holding the results. He seemed…interested in something.

"I take it we have at least one decent score." She muses.

"Better than decent. Sasuke beat Naruto's record in hybrid form and came up just a little short in humanoid. He'd make a great field agent." The instructor says.

"Yes, he probably would. But it is ill advised until he has had a chance to recover from the trauma the Arena inflicted on him. For now, I'll probably put him with his mother. Dealing with cubs is a safe job. He'd probably enjoy spending more time with her as well." She offers.

"A wise decision, as always My Lady." The instructor agrees.

"Yes, I thought so as well." She says.

A few days later, Sasuke was with his mother in one of the day care centers. He smiles when he sees his mother and even Jugo. Apparently he was such a gentle giant, that putting him with kids was a natural fit.

"Sorry, I kinda ditched you. It wasn't intentional. It's just things with Naruto…well it's easy to lose track of time." Sasuke mutters in a semi embarrassed fashion.

"No worries. I'm glad that you found someone. So how is it?" Jugo asks.

"How is what?" Sasuke answers evasively.;

"The sex." He answers.

"JUGO! We are in a day care center, for Godsakes!" Sasuke hisses at his friend.

"The kids are taking a nap. Besides, they are all too young to know what the S word is anyway." He reasons.

"Yeah. I agree." Sasuke reluctantly concedes that point.

"Right. So how is it? I mean he must be doing something right if you've been staying with him for a few days." The large orange haired hybrid continues.

"Not sure yet. We haven't…" Sasuke trails off.

"Really? That's shocking. I mean with the way he looks at you and those collars, I'm surprised you are still able to walk." He replies.

"What makes you think that I'd be the one being mounted?" Sasuke demands to know.

"Oh don't take it personally. I mean he's just so fucking massive for a lion. I doubt he's going to bottom for anyone. Not that you are small, I mean you are big too in your animal form, but yeah. Plus I know you haven't before. So it'd make sense that at least for the first time or two, he'd probably show you the ropes." He explains.

"You've thought about my sex life way too much. Are you sure that you only like women?" Sasuke muses.

"Positive. I just want my best friend to be happy." He responds.

"Jugo, I'm your only friend." Sasuke points out.

"Which makes you all the more precious." Jugo replies.

"Yeah. I guess. I kinda lost it. I had an episode. He cut himself while making dinner and I saw the blood…" The dark haired man admits guilty.

"Shit! Did you hurt him? Is he okay?" The elephant questions.

"No. He's fine. Naruto tells me it doesn't matter. He's been very understanding. A little too understanding. He should stay away from me until I'm better. But he won't." Sasuke says with a sigh.

"Do you love him?" Jugo asks.

"Yeah…I do." The Uchiha answers.

He frowns. Sasuke had never admitted that before, not even fully to himself. But he couldn't lie to Jugo. He did love Naruto.

It was insane. He hadn't even known the other man a month. What did he know about romantic love? He'd been trained to be a killer since he was seven. It was crazy. It was all happening too fast. But one look at those gorgeous blue eyes and Sasuke knew that he was a goner.

"I'm back!" Mikoto says cheerfully, carrying the snacks for the cubs.

"Great." Sasuke says with a smile and goes to help his mother.

He'd figure it out later. Right now he had a job to do. Granted, watching cubs wasn't exactly what he had pictured himself doing when Hinata mentioned hybrids would eventually get jobs, but it could have been worse. Sasuke prided himself on being the best at everything. Watching cubs would be no different.

Danzo goes to speak with Tsunade. Something was wrong. She hadn't replied to his suggestion about Sasuke at all. But she had for all his others. Was she purposely ignoring the Sasuke suggestion? Probably because of that damn brat Naruto. He had seen their stupid little collars.

"Tsunade, do you have a moment?" He asks her.

"Of course. What is it?" She replies.

"I noticed that you responded to all my recommendations, save for one. You didn't responds to my Sasuke recommendation. I am curious as to the reason why." He states simply.

"I never received your Sasuke recommendation. So I put him in the Day Care for now. It will be good for him to have more time to bond with his mother. Being around cubs might do someone with his history good. It will help him relax." She answers.

"I gave my recommendation for him to be a field agent." He informs her.

"How odd. I did not receive it. But yes, he would make an amazing field agent, in a year or two. You know that rescue cases need time to recover. If we send him out in the field now, he'd probably end up killing as many innocents, if not more than he would save." She says.

"You never received it?" He asks incredulously.

"No. I did not." The blonde tells him.

"I see. Well I still strongly believe that he would be better suited to be a field agent. Having him watch cubs is frankly a waste of his talents and work that I doubt he is suited for. What is to keep him from snapping and attacking the children?" He questions.

"The same thing that would keep him from snapping and attacking his fellow agents." She snaps.

"He would be provided with ample training. I have every confidence that he would be a fast learner." He argues.

"I will give your suggestion due consideration. For now, I am going to retire for the evening. Good night." She says and heads off once he leaves her office.

Tsunade locks her door once he was out of sight. She places the key in her large bosom. It was the one place that she knew Danzo would never get into. There was no way she'd ever allow him to get into her office, while she wasn't there. He was such a snake.

Kisame watches Itachi in amusement. His mate was reading some book. A novel. Itachi was very much an academic. Kisame wasn't. But he did enjoy occasionally watching Itachi engage in his intellectual pursuits. He was just so expressive when he was reading. It was like he let his guard completely down.

"That must be some book. You've been reading for hours." He offers.

' "Oh it is. It has given me a few ideas for our own carnal activities." He replies.

"…Are you reading smut?" Kisame asks.

"I prefer to think of it as erotic literature of the highest quality." Itachi counters.

"Uh huh. Well let me see this high quality erotic literature." The blue skinned man demands.

"No. No. I don't think so." Itachi says and sits on the book.

Kisame wasn't having any of that however. He pushes his lover off. Hmm the book was orange. Wait didn't Jirayia make all of his books have an orange cover for some reason.

"Really? You consider Jirayia's books to be high quality literature? And all this time I thought you were such an intellectual." He teases.

"They are." Itachi protests.

"Uh huh. I'm sure." Kisame says as he straddles his lover and pins his hands over his head.

"It's true." He continues.

"Right. So how is your kid brother doing?" Kisame asks curiously.

"Better than expected. His relationship with Naruto seems to be progressing nicely. I can tell that Naruto is a bit frustrated though. I doubt that they have actually done it yet." He muses.

"Well maybe he could use a few pointers from his nympho of a brother." Kisame suggests.

"I am not a nympho!" Itachi growls.

"You could have fooled me. I still have the marks on my back from last night, kitten." He states.

"And I really wish you would stop calling me that stupid pet name. I am a lion. I am not a kitten." Itachi scoffs.

"Nah. You are too cute when your fur gets all ruffled about it. Kitten says." He informs him.

"You are impossible." Itachi says and shakes his head.

"Maybe. But you like me that way." Kisame counters.

"Well I can't argue with that." He replies with a smile.

Naruto smiles. He picks up some fancy champagne that he had figured out Sasuke liked on his way home. Things were starting to settle down. Sasuke seemed more relaxed since he hadn't attacked Naruto again.

The blonde was so damn frustrated. Their relationship still hadn't progressed passed kissing and some necking as far as physical intimacy go. He had learned to stop necking. Sasuke made the most fucking hot sounds when he did that and then would shy away, when Naruto wanted nothing more than to screw him into whatever nearest surface was available.

"Well maybe tonight will be different." He says to himself happily.

Sasuke was already home. The Day Care got out early that day. He was relaxing, idly flipping through a book. It was a fantasy novel. There were dragons involved. Sasuke liked dragons. He liked fantasy.

He was just getting to the part where the princess was about to be rescued when he heard the door open. Sasuke smiles when he sees Naruto walk into their home. The dark haired lion had stopped being disturbed that he now thought of Naruto's place as his home, a day or two ago. It was just a fact of life at this point.

"Hey." He says.

"Hey." Naruto replies with a smile.

"What's in the bag?" Sasuke questions curiously.

"Champagne. I know you like the fancy stuff." Naruto tells him.

"Maybe a little." He admits.

"It's okay. You are worth it. So what do you say we finish this off and watch a movie?" He asks.

"Sounds good to me." Sasuke says and curls up on the couch with Naruto.

Naruto pours them both a drink. He knew what he was about to do was a bit evil. But maybe Sasuke just needed a little push. An erotic movie might do the trick.


	9. Chapter 9

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews. Unfortunately, the site is still glitching. But I'm always happy to get your feedback. To address one reviewer, I haven't really addressed it before, but hybrids generally have higher sex drives than humans. They urges are stronger, in my story anyway lol. So yeah, for Naruto this is torture XD. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Chapter Nine

Sasuke foolishly had relaxed his guard. Naruto had champagne and wanted to watch a movie. It all sounded innocent, right?

Wrong. The blonde had neglected to mention it was an adult film. Yeah that was a pretty damn important detail to leave out! Naruto was very unpredictable. You never knew what he was going to do. Sasuke had given up on trying to guess what crazy idea the blonde would come up with next.

"You are such a pervert!" Sasuke growls at the handsome blonde lion hybrid.

"Well yeah. Kinda hard not to be when I have such a hot boyfriend." Naruto admits.

"We are not watching THAT." He informs Naruto in no uncertain terms that there was absolutely no way he was watching an adult film.

"Awe come on. I know that you are skittish about intimacy because of safety concerns and Danzo. But at least this way…we can find out what interests each other. I just wanna make sure you enjoy it." He offers and unleashes the puppy eyes of doom. (Ironic for a feline hybrid.)

"I'm interested in you. I'm not interested in what some adult entertainers do." Sasuke snaps.

"Not in the actors. I mean you know…things like positions. Stuff like that." Naruto tries to clarify and realizes he might have put his foot in his mouth with this one.

"I'm sure I'll like whatever we do together. I have so far. Holy shit! Is that a horse hybrid?" Sasuke's eyes go widen when he notices a new scene on the adult movie.

"Yeah. Guess it is." Naruto answers.

"I see where the phrase hung like a horse comes from now." Sasuke states dryly.

"Thought you weren't interested." The blonde says smugly and teases his beloved.

"It's kinda hard not to notice…" The darker haired lion trails off and blinks, the actors were either really good fakers or clearly enjoying a rather…vigorous coupling.

"Damn you really are innocent. It's really fucking adorable to watch you get all flustered." Naruto says.

"Whatever, loser. You aren't getting any tonight. So you might as well turn that off and stop sexually frustrating the both of us." He says and steals the champagne bottle.

"Can't blame a guy for trying. But you said the both of us, so that means you want to." He points out.

"Naruto, I'm a guy. Of course I want sex. I'm not a monk." He states and rolls his eyes.

"When is your first appointment for the PTSD?" Naruto asks in concern, changing the conversation.

"Tomorrow." He answers.

"Hopefully it will help. I know I was being kinda a jerk right now. But it's just really powerful, you know? The urge to claim you." The blonde admits and looks guilty.

"Naruto, I am wearing a collar with your name on my neck. I think I'm pretty well claimed and vice versa." Sasuke offers.

"Well it's a start." Naruto concedes.

"Your instincts are really messing with you, huh?" Sasuke asks, his eyes now filling with sympathy.

"You have no idea. It's driving me fucking crazy." The blue eyed hybrid says.

"If he sent me away, you'd be just as hurt now as you would be if we were lovers. It's mostly a matter of safety." Sasuke says.

He knew he was being stupid. They were sharing a room. He slept in Naruto's arms every night. Whether or not they went all the way, the feelings were there. If Danzo sent him away, Naruto would be crushed.

Maybe he should just let him. They both wanted each other. If he got sent away, at least he'd have good memories to console himself with.

But what if he lost it? What if he had an episode during the middle of it and hurt Naruto? Hell he might kill him. The blonde wouldn't seriously fight back, Sasuke knew that. He couldn't risk it. Sasuke couldn't risk it in good conscience and live with himself if something went wrong.

"Sasuke, get that out of your head right now. I'm NOT letting him send you away anywhere. You've done really well. There was just that Deidara thing and he started it. You have PTSD but so do most of the other rescue cases. Yours only happened once. He doesn't have any grounds to send you away." Naruto tries to reassure him.

"Then he'll make them up! I'm a black lion. Do you know how much my fur alone is worth?!" Sasuke growls.

"Your fur? What does that have to do with anything? Is there something you aren't telling me?" Naruto demands.

"…Actually you know, maybe you have a point about this erotic movie thing. That thing with his tongue he just did, that could be fun." Sasuke suggests, trying to change the subject.

"Sasuke." Naruto growls warningly.

"Naruto." He says.

"Not funny. Tell me what the fuck is going on. I want to know. I have a right to know, don't I?" He questions.

"I don't want you to get into trouble. No one is going to believe rescue hybrids over someone whose worked in Konoha for decades. Just forget I said anything. Okay?" The dark haired man pleads.

"Sasuke, tell me what the Hell is going on." Naruto says and pins Sasuke underneath him.

"Stop throwing your weight around like that!" Sasuke snaps at him.

"I'll stop doing it, when you tell me the real reason why you are so terrified of Danzo. It's not like you. You are the bravest man, I've ever met." The blue eyed man says.

"If I tell you, do you promise you won't race off and do something stupid? I need you too much. Naruto. I can't lose you." Sasuke begs.

"I won't do something stupid. Just tell me. It will be okay. I promise." He murmurs and brushes the bangs out of Sasuke's face.

"He's a buyer. He buys hybrids and sells them for a profit. Here, I guess he probably has a cover story. Likely he pretends to be sending problem hybrids to special treatment centers, but is actually selling them." The other lion says.

"What?! I always knew he was a creep. But he's actually buying PEOPLE?!" Naruto snarls in outrage.

"Hybrids. He doesn't view us as people. He has no more guilt over it than a human might feel ashamed of selling pets." Sasuke informs him.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch." The blonde says.

It all made sense now. That was why Sasuke was so damn afraid. The Uchiha was worried he'd be sold off to God knows where. No wonder he didn't want to get attached to Naruto.

"You promised you wouldn't do anything stupid." Sasuke reminds him.

"That was before I knew what he was up to. That's sick! That's so twisted! I can't believe that shit was going on right here in Konoha." The blonde seethes with rage.

"Naruto, focus on me. Not him." Sasuke says and tries to calm the other hybrid down.

"I am focusing on you. That bastard wants to sell you off like some kind of slave!" Naruto roars, he actually roars.

"It's okay. I'm right here. I'm safe with you. But I won't be safe if you fly off the handle. My family is here. Obviously, they managed not to get sent away. I'll be okay." Sasuke murmurs.

"I have to report him to Tsunade. I can't let this shit go on." The blonde says.

"If you do that, he'll know that I told you." Sasuke says in horror.

"No. No, he won't. Granny Tsunade won't tell him who reported him." Naruto replies.

"He's not stupid, Naruto. He'll know. Like I said, just focus on me." Sasuke says and purrs seductively into his ear.

"Shit! Sasuke." Naruto pants, hearing that purr.

"You wanted me to touch you more, right?" He asks slyly as he nibbles on the blonde's ear.

"Y-eah. Oh fuck. That feels good." Naruto says and closes his eyes.

"I can make it feel even better." He promises and rolls them around, so Sasuke was on top, straddling his waist.

"Fuck, you're beautiful." Naruto mutters and looks up at him.

"You aren't so bad yourself." Sasuke says and captures the blonde's lips in a heated kiss.

Naruto groans. He couldn't resist grinding against Sasuke. The blue eyed man slides his hands underneath the other's shirt. He reveled in the feeling of the muscles there.

"I can't believe I'm saying this…" Naruto murmurs into the kiss.

"Saying what?" Sasuke asks.

"That we should stop. I know you're only doing it to distract me. I want you to straddle me like this because you WANT to, not because you feel like you HAVE to." The blonde answers.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive. I want to. I can't have you thinking that I'm some submissive sex kitten and I like the way you feel underneath me. But yeah, I'm trying to district you. Is it working?" He asks.

"Well there's definitely nothing wrong with you being a submissive sex kitten. It's hot. But I'm liking the whole King of the Jungle approach too." Naruto replies.

"Good." Sasuke responds and grinds his clothed crotch against Naruto, eliciting a moan from both.

"Fucking tease. You keep that shit up and I won't give a fuck. You aren't going to be able to walk properly for a week." Naruto warns him.

"Promises, promises." Sasuke purrs down at him.

"You are really asking for it." Naruto warns.

It was at that point, they heard a knock on the door. Sasuke blinks. He gets off Naruto and goes to answer it.

"Hey, Jugo." Sasuke says.

"Sasuke, apparently Tsunade wants to see you. I'm not sure what about. But it sounded important." He informs him.

"She wants to see me right now?" Sasuke asks.

"Yeah. Sounded urgent." The orange haired man clarifies.

"Um alright I guess. I'll be back in a bit." He says to Naruto.

"No, you won't. I'm coming with you." Naruto says and gets on his feet, gliding over to his soon to be lover.

"Did she say I had to come alone?" Sasuke inquires.

"No. She didn't. I think it's okay if you take him with you. Probably make it easier for you to find the place anyway." He suggests.

"Good. Alright, lead the way." The darker lion says to Naruto.

"You got it." He replies and heads into the hallway.

Sasuke followed Naruto. His heart was pounding. He was sure what Tsunade would want. But he didn't have a good feeling about this. He prayed to whatever deity might be listening that he wasn't getting sent away. Sasuke couldn't bare the thought of leaving Naruto and his family.

"There you are." Tsunade says with she sees Sasuke.

"Yeah. Naruto came with me." Sasuke warns her.

"Oh boy." Tsunade says with a sigh but she nods her head, letting him know that Naruto could also come into her office.

"What's this all about Granny Tsunade?" The blonde man asks.

"I have concerns. Danzo recommended Sasuke for the field agent training program." She states.

"Isn't Naruto a field agent? What's so bad about that?" Sasuke asks.

"Nothing. Your scores on the obstacle course were exceptional. You are more than intelligent enough for such a position. It's the fact that you are still getting over the trauma of being in the Arena. Generally, we don't allow rescue cases from situations like that to be enrolled in the field agent program for at least a year or two." She explains.

"You are afraid that I'd snap." Sasuke states bluntly.

"I won't sugarcoat it. Yes, that is a cause for concern. It is nothing personal. I would have the same worries for any hybrid with your background. You've been doing exceptionally well since your rescue. Obviously, Naruto would be willing to vouch for that." She chuckles.

"Alright, so don't put him in that program for awhile. I'm sure he's fine with helping out at the Day Care." Naruto offers.

"That was my plan, yes. But Danzo seems to have taken a personal interest in, Sasuke. This has caused me to become concern. Is there something I should know about your relationship with him?" Tsunade questions.

"…I don't have a relationship with Danzo, personally." Sasuke says.

Naruto looks at Sasuke. Now would be the perfect time to tell Tsunade. But he could tell that his almost lover, wasn't ready. Sasuke was looking at him with pleading eyes. He sighs, dammit.

"Danzo is creepy. I think the bastard just hates lion hybrids." Naruto decides to go along with it for now.

"Perhaps. Still, do try to avoid him for the time being." Tsunade counsels Sasuke.

"Yes, I will." The dark haired man agrees.

"Good. Well tomorrow is your first treatment for your PTSD. I hope you will be cooperative. Sakura informs me that you had some issues with your physical." She muses.

"I just didn't want to get naked. I hate exposing vital spots like that." Sasuke scoffs.

"Well you won't have to get naked tomorrow. So we shouldn't have any problems." Tsunade muses.

"Right." Sasuke agrees.

"Speaking of problems, I am sorry. It seems I interrupted something." Tsunade chuckles.

Sasuke followed her eyes. Dammit! They had both left with their "tails" up and their arousal was noticeable, even if they were wearing pants.

"Yeah. Maybe we should get a _**Do Not Disturb**_ sign." Naruto suggests.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Sasuke says.

"Well you two can go have…fun. I just wanted to warn you. I don't know if he'll actually try anything, but it is better safe than sorry." She finishes.

"Got it." Naruto says.

"Thank you." Sasuke states.

"Come on, let's go home." Naruto says and walks off, hand and hand with Sasuke.

Sasuke blushes. He didn't now why. He was wearing Naruto's collar. Holding hands was nothing.

"You are blushing over handholding? What was that you said about not being a kitten?" Naruto teases.

"Oh just shut up." Sasuke warns him.

"Make me." The blonde replies.

"Oh, I think I will." The dark haired lion promises.

"That sounds interesting." Naruto responds with a smirk and bounds off towards their home.

Sasuke growls. He chases off after his potential mate. When he got his paws on Naruto, he was going to…

Meanwhile, Kisame finds Danzo. Itachi might play by the rules, but that didn't mean the shark did. The blue skinned man was well aware how happy Itachi and his pride were to have the cub back.

A happy Itachi meant a happy Kisame. An unhappy Itachi, well that meant an unhappy Kisame. When he was unhappy, he wasn't afraid to show his fangs.

Kisame slams the old man against the wall. His shark teeth were bared. He keeps the flailing old man pinned.

"You wouldn't be messing with the pretty kitties, now would you?" He asks.

"Get your filthy hands off of me!" Danzo snarls.

"Coming from someone who resembles the crypt keeper, I don't think I much care about your opinion of my hands. Now I'll ask you again. Are you messing with Uchiha Pride? Because if you are messing with them, you are messing with my mate. If you upset Itachi, I promise you that they won't find your body at the bottom of the ocean." He states.

"Kisame, I am mildly disturbed by the fact you referred to my family as pretty kitties. I appreciate your defense of me and my pride, but come. It is not necessary." Itachi says, having witnessed the scene, and was walking over to his mate.

"Oh I was just having a chat with our member of the walking dead here." Kisame replies.

"Yes, threatening to drown him at the bottom of the ocean…my love we must really work on your conversational skills." Itachi says with a fond smile and offers him his hand.

"Eh I have you to do all the sweet talking. Me? I prefer the direct approach. Ever seen the movie, _**Jaws?**_ It's got nothing on me." He says to Danzo, taking his mate's hand, and walks off.

"Freaks! The both of you. Completely unnatural." He growls.

"Really, pretty kitties?" Itachi asks as they walk off.

"Well you are lion's. Lions are just overgrown cats. You are all pretty. It fits." Kisame states.

"…Uh huh." Itachi states with amusement.

"You aren't mad at me for the kitty crack, are you?" He asks.

"Bemused more like it. Besides, how can I be angry with you when you were merely trying to defend my family? Your tactics could use some work. But your heart was in the right place." Itachi replies.

"And how would you have handled it?" Kisame asks.

"Smothered him with a pillow in his sleep." Itachi answers.

"This is why I love you. In addition to having the hottest ass I've ever seen you are also the most evil kitty I've ever met. HELL-o Kitty." He chuckles.

"Kisame, that was the lamest pun that I have ever had the misfortune to hear." Itachi informs him.

"Pft. Let's see you do better." The shark taunts him.

"Anyone could do better than that." He says and kisses his cheek.

Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke head back to their room. Sasuke sighs in relief. He'd gotten damn lucky. The blonde lion could have told Tsunade everything. That would have ended in disaster for everyone.

"Thank you." He says.

"Don't think me. I still think we should tell her. But I saw how scared you were. I don't want to see you look that way again." Naruto murmurs and kisses his forehead.

"I'll probably feel better after I've had some more champagne and read a good book." He says.

"Read a good book? Hey, what am I chopped liver?" Naruto scoffs.

"Did you have something more interesting in mind? Fair warning, you are competing against dragons." He says slyly.

"Pft. Dragons, that's nothing." The blue eyed man says and drags Sasuke back into their room.

"Oh really? You sound pretty cocky." Sasuke muses.

"I have good reason to be and I'll prove it." The blonde tells him.

"I'm trembling with…excitement." He mocks him.

Elsewhere, Mikoto and Fugaku were settling down for the night. She smiles as she explains to him that Sasuke had been assigned to work with her. Her mate seemed to find the idea of their son working with cubs most amusing. This was especially so when she told him about how the cubs had gotten Sasuke absolutely drenched in fingerpaint.

"Poor boy." Fugaku chuckles.

"I imagine he doesn't mind it. Look at what he went through in the Arena. I'm sure getting covered in fingerpaint is nothing compared to that." She says.

"I'm sure. But his poor pride. Naruto's mother is quite…aggressive." Fugaku observes.

"Yes. But she means well. She just wants her son to be happy. I can certainly relate to that." Mikoto argues.

"Minato is fairly mellow. I don't mind him. I wonder where Itachi and Kisame got off to. I haven't seen them all day." The Uchiha Patriarch ponders.

"Oh you know them. They are newly mated. It's still the honeymoon phase. Likely they are in their room and enjoying the night with each other." She says and kisses her mate.

"Perhaps we should follow their example." Fugaku murmurs as he kisses back.

"That sounds like a fine idea to me." She purrs.


	10. Chapter 10

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry this one is a bit late. I got side tracked by some of my other stories. *Sigh* Reviews still aren't showing up on the site, but I can see them in my email. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter. Lots of flashbacks this chapter. ;)

Chapter 10

The next day, Sasuke goes to receive his first treatment for his PSTD. Naruto wanted to go with him. But Tsunade informed the blonde that Sasuke would probably censor himself, if he didn't have privacy. It had been the battle of the blondes, but eventually Naruto had kissed Sasuke and decided to wait outside the door.

"Alright, Sasuke. Tell me how you came to be at the Arena and about your time there. Don't worry. I won't judge you for anything that you did or that happened to you. You didn't have a choice. Nothing you say to me, will ever be shared with anyone else." She assures him.

Sasuke looks at her skeptically. The black lion didn't detect any deception in her scent. The nose didn't lie, did it?

"I was taken from the wild when I was a cub…" He begins and winces as the memories hit him.

 _Sasuke was just a cub of seven. He hissed. He bit. He kicked. He clawed. He tried everything he could to escape, but the human was just too strong for him. He still had his baby teeth in his animal form._

 _"This one's a fighter. Definitely selling him to Orochimaru. Look at that fur. He'll pay a fortune for him." One of them said._

 _"Oh yeah. Real cutie too. I bet the women will get a kick out of watching him fight in a few years and the female hybrids will be more than eager to breed with him." Another said._

 _"LET ME GO!" Sasuke growled._

 _"Sorry kitty cat. That's not going to happen." He said as Sasuke is thrown into the trunk of the car._

 _Sasuke wasn't sure how long he was jammed in the trunk. But by the end of the ride he was dizzy from thirst and hunger. Maybe they just didn't care. If he died, they could sell him for his fur, he figured._

 _"Well looks like the kid is alive. Told you that he was a fighter." The larger one said._

 _"Hmm well I'll be damned. Thought for sure he'd die on the way here. Oh well. Come here little guy." He said.._

 _Sasuke shrinks as far back as he could. The human wasn't deterred though. He goes to grab Sasuke. Sasuke bit him as hard as he could, causing the human to curse and he could taste some blood in his mouth. He'd drawn blood. Take that!_

 _"OWE. DAMN FUCKER BIT ME!" He hissed in pain._

 _"Idiot. You should have worn your gloves." The other scolded him._

 _"He's just a baby." The larger one argued._

 _"That baby drew blood. Get your ass to the infirmary. He might have a disease for all you know. He's wild." The smaller one warned him._

 _"You're right. Kid you are going to get torn apart in the Arena. Should have been nicer. Maybe you would have been a pet." He spat at Sasuke and headed off._

 _"Come on." The other said, wearing special gloves for protection, and he grabbed Sasuke by the scruff of the neck._

 _Despite being weak from thirst and hungry, Sasuke struggled valiantly. But once you had a cat by the scruff of the neck, they were helpless. His struggles seemed to amuse his captor more than anything else._

 _"Orochimaru, got one for you. A black lion hybrid. He's just a cub right now. But he survived the journey and is a fighter. Took a good chunk out of the idiot's arm." He said._

 _"He's stunning. Look at that fur. Hmm and rather scrappy. How much you want for him?" The snake like man asked._

 _"I'd say he's worth at least a hundred grand." The man replied._

 _"Hmm…normally I would haggle. But I suspect he'll end up making me a hundred times that by the end of his career. That's not counting any cubs he will sire. Very well." Orochimaru gave the man a rather large diamond that Sasuke would later find out was worth $100,000 dollars._

 _"Pleasure doing business with you." He said and walked off with the diamond._

 _"What's your name, child?" Orochimaru asked._

 _Sasuke stays silent. He didn't like this man anymore than the people who had taken away from his family. His instincts screamed PREDATOR._

 _"Are you mute?" He questioned in amusement._

 _Sasuke looks at him defiantly and tries to run off. Orochimaru grabbed him though and threw him against the wall._

 _"I think it is best that I make a few things clear. This is the Arena and my word is law here. If you do not do as I tell you, life will be very short and unpleasant for you. If you are a good boy, you might make it to adulthood." Orochimaru explained to him as if he was Sasuke's teacher and Sasuke was a naughty student._

 _Sasuke's tiny fury form bounced against the wall. He felt a sharp pain to his head and everything went black. When he woke, he was in a kennel. That was the beginning of his own personal Hell._

"So he threw me against the wall. I was knocked out and woke up in a kennel." Sasuke finishes, not realizing his whole body was shaking with anger and terror.

"Very good. That's a very good start Sasuke. It takes a lot of courage to talk about such things. I am proud of you." She murmurs.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." He mutters.

"I imagine not. But that's a good start today. Besides, if I keep Naruto waiting too much longer, he'll probably break down the door." She states slyly.

"Yeah. He probably would." Sasuke lets out a choked laugh.

"Go to him." She tells him.

"Thanks." Sasuke says and opens the door.

Naruto almost fell on the floor. He had been pressed up to it. Sasuke figured the blonde was trying to listen in. The dark haired lion knew he should be angry. But he couldn't be. Naruto was only doing it because he cared. He smiles. The Uchiha was still getting used to people caring about him again.

"Shit! Sasuke you are shaking like a leaf. What'd she do to you?" He growls and looks at Tsunade like he was considering tearing her to shreds.

"She didn't do anything. I was just remembering things that I would rather forget. But I know it's all part of therapy. I'm not going to get better, if I can't face my demons. Can we go home now?" He murmurs.

"Yeah. Of course." He says, pulling Sasuke into his arms and holding the other man against him.

"Good." Sasuke says and buries his face into Naruto's as they walk back to their room.

Meanwhile Danzo goes and checks the prison. Orochimaru would be there. While the old man held Orochimaru in low esteem, he also knew that the man never failed to make a delivery. Without him, huge networks of sellers and buyers were going to be thrown into chaos.

"Orochimaru." Danzo says.

"Danzo, come to get me out of here?" The ashen skinned man asks.

"You know that I can't do that. Well at least not yet. I want you to tell me what you know about Sasuke Uchiha. I think he could prove problematic." He states.

"He's a black lion hybrid. Probably the best fighter, I've ever had. A crowd favorite. A natural killer instinct. Highly intelligent. Strong. But very proud. His pride will make him do things that are not…the wisest course of action. I remember as a cub, I had to beat him into submission and even then, he was forever trying to challenge me. Miracle that he's still alive. I'm surprised his skull didn't shatter to be honest." He finishes casually.

"Ah pride. That's a major weakness of all big cat hybrids, I've noticed." He chuckles humorlessly.

"Indeed it is. He's magnificent in either form. Pity that I wasn't able to breed him. He does prefer males. I offered him…companionship on more than one occasion but he is such an antisocial thing." He adds.

"You'd sleep with a hybrid? Disgusting." Danzo lips curl in distaste.

"They have human intelligence and as long as they are in their human form, I see no problem." The other man counters.'

"I'm not here to discuss your sexual preferences." Danzo says.

"Well I've told you what I know. I doubt he'd let them know you are a buyer. He's tasted freedom. He's not the type to stick his neck out for strangers." He says with a smirk.

"Good to know. Though perhaps he simply wasn't into old men. He's taken a lover." He says.

"A lover? That is interesting. Who?" Orochimaru asks.

' "Tsunade's pet, Naruto. He's a golden lion hybrid." Danzo answers, not able to resist the impulse to taunt Orochimaru a bit.

"A golden lion and a black lion, I'm certain that must be quite the piece of art. Tell me, which seems to be the dominant in that pair?" He asks curiously.

"I'm not sure. They both wear collars with each other's names. Nor do I particularly care who tops when they mount each other." He says with a shrug.

"You never were any fun." Orochimaru says.

"You were always…disgusting. Good night Orochimaru. I will work on getting you out of here, if only to keep the black market from spiraling into chaos." He says and leaves.

Meanwhile Kisame watches as his mate paces. Something had clearly gotten under his normally very composed lover's fur. On one hand, he did enjoy the sight of Itachi's fine ass pacing back and forth. On the other, it meant he was distressed. He decides to just ask and see what was bothering him.

"Itachi, you are wearing a hole in the carpet. What's eating you?" He asks.

"Sasuke's receiving his first therapy session today. I'm worried that it might trigger an episode." He answers.

"Oh. I see. Don't worry, if he's anything like you, he's tough. He'll be fine." Kisame tries to reassure him.

"He's tough in the Arena. The Arena of your mind can be an even harsher mistress at times." He says.

"True. But pacing won't help him. We can ask him how it went when he gets back. Will that make you feel better?" He questions.

"A little." Itachi replies.

"Good." Kisame says and he couldn't help but remember the first time that he met his mate.

 _Kisame was a thief. He was a master thief. He specialized in the theft of rather expensive swords. Kisame liked swords. He liked shiny things. The blue skinned man supposed that it was the kleptomaniac in him._

 _"Hmm, someone's following me." He says._

 _He had felt like he was being watched for awhile. He just couldn't see who it was. At first, he tried to pawn it off to nerves. But then he had caught a scent. It was subtle but he definitely smelled apples and cinnamon, along with a musky undertone._

 _"Alright. I know you're following me. So how about we cut to the chase and get to the part where I beat you up and you run back to whoever sent you with your tail between your legs?" He asks mockingly._

 _"That was rather speciest of you to assume I had a tail. There are hybrids that don't have them." He hears a voice that felt like pure satin to his ears say._

 _"Was I right though?" He asks, wanting to hear that voice again, and looks around to see who his chaser was._

 _"In this instance, yes. But you really shouldn't assume things." He hears the other man say and a soft thud as the man jumps down from his hiding place._

 _He couldn't him yet. It was late at night. The thin sliver of the Moon that was visible cast only shadows. But the fact he had landed on his feet told him that he was probably dealing with some sort of cat hybrid._

 _"Come out and play." He says._

 _"If you insist." He hears the voice say and Itachi walks out of the shadows._

 _Itachi, as Kisame would later find out was his name, had to be the most beautiful creature that he'd ever laid eyes on. Raven black long hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, crimson red eyes, sun kissed skin, exotic markings on his cheeks, black furred lion ears, a matching tail, and that gorgeous lithe body of his._

 _Damn. He didn't know who had sent this one, but Kisame was in the mood to send them a nice gift basket. Maybe he could have some fun._

 _"Your talents for…acquiring precious objects have been noticed by Konoha. Normally, your string of high end robberies would land you in prison. But your skills are too valuable to waste. So if you come with me, you'll get a job instead of jail time." Itachi said._

 _"So all those others who were after me, were…recruiters?" He asked._

 _"Something like that. You are very good at escaping. So they decided a tracker such as myself would be best." He replied._

 _"Well if they had sent your gorgeous ass to start with, then I would have stuck around longer to hear the explanation." Kisame informed him._

 _"I shall take that as your agreeing to come with me." Itachi ignored the gorgeous part._

 _"I'll cum with you anytime you want. But first I think you should at least kiss me first. I'm a romantic deep down, ya know?" He asked._

 _"That is not amusing." Itachi had replied and his tail had flicked in agitation. (Which Kisame thought was so fucking adorable.)_

 _"Who says I was joking?" He questioned and came flying at Itachi._

 _He was a hybrid. They were just wired differently than humans. For most hybrids, if you couldn't win someone over by wooing them, it was considered perfectly acceptable to try to impress them with a show of strength and then fuck their brains out. It was primitive drive, designed to increase the chances of strong offspring. Somehow though, it appeared to work equally well on pairs that were the same gender in hybrids._

 _The had spent the entire night fighting. Kisame had never been so turned on his life. Itachi fought with such an elegant, fluid, and sensual grace. It was worth taking whatever blows he managed to land on the much larger shark hybrid just to see it._

 _Itachi at some point had realized they were too evenly matched for him to win the fight by conventional means. So yeah, Kisame realized later that he was a sucker. But he still remembered when Itachi had suddenly kissed him._

 _He'd never felt anything so good. Then there was a sharp pain to the back of his neck and everything went black. Itachi had used the kiss to distract him and knock Kisame out. Sneaky little kitty._

"What are you smiling about?" Itachi asks curiously.

"I was just remembering the first time we met. Such a sneaky little kitty." Kisame says.

"…Don't remind me. I can't believe I had to resort to such underhanded tactics, but you left me no choice." Itachi mutters.

"You can be as underhanded anytime you want with me. Anyway, we should probably go check on your brother. I'm sure he's out of his session by now." Kisame says.

"Yes, let's." He agrees and walks off with his mate.

Meanwhile Danzo finds Sai. He wasn't pleased to say the least. He had given the hybrid the file with Sasuke's suggestion on it. Sai had delivered all the other suggestions. So he highly doubted it was likely that Sasuke's got "lost in the mail."

"Sai, why did you not do as I asked?" Danzo questions him furiously.

"I did. I gave Tsunade the folder." He answers.

"But she never received my suggestion for Sasuke Uchiha. If you gave her the folder, I wonder how that could be. The only logical conclusion that I am left with is that you removed his name from the pack. I wonder why you would do such a thing?" He muses.

"I didn't. It probably just fell. I would never disobey an order from you." Sai lies.

"It seems you did. Which of the two did you fall for? Was it Naruto? You spend an unusual amount of time watching him. Or perhaps you like them with darker fur." He says menacingly.

"You know I'm not capable of love. I'm not capable of any emotion. You trained me to be efficient. Emotions only get in the way of completing missions." Sai informs him.

"Yes, it seems I did train you. There must have been a flaw in your training if you are so willing to defy me. And here I thought that you were trustworthy. Tsk. Tsk. I should know better than to trust a filthy animal." He says and raises his cane to strike him.

A loud roar suddenly rips through the hallway. Danzo is thrown to the ground by the weight of a 480 pound African black furred lion. His fangs were bared and his eyes red as a demon.

"Filthy animal? Is that what you call us when the mask slips?" Sasuke snarls at the man underneath him.

"SASUKE!" Naruto cries out and races after him.

He didn't know what happened. They had been walking down the hall. Sasuke's ears had twitched and he had phased instantly. Sasuke was charging at someone and had let out a blood chilling roar. Now Sasuke had pinned someone underneath him and looked like he was about to tear the other man's head off.

"Thank you." Sai mutters in shock.

"You're welcome." Sasuke snarls his fangs ready to tear Danzo's throat out.

"Sasuke stop! If you do it, you are as bad as him." Naruto says.

"He deserves it. Do you know how many lives this man has ruined?" Sasuke growls.

"Sasuke." Naruto says warningly.

"He was going to attack the horse." Sasuke points out.

"Yes, you saved him. Come on. Let's go home. I could give you a nice belly rub. I know you like those." Naruto offers.

"You are so lucky." Sasuke growls, but his fury was too great to let it slide.

Naruto could only watch in horror at what unfolded next. Sasuke unsheathed his claws and scratched into Danzo's cheek the word **BUYER** in all capital letters. He smirks in his animal form cruelly. Enjoying the man's howls of pain and the sight of fresh blood on the bastard.

"Suffer, as I have." He snarls and bounds over to Naruto.

"You going to be okay, Sai?" Naruto asks the horse hybrid.

"Yes, I think so." He murmurs.

"If you touch him, I'll make sure it's your throat next time." Sasuke promises Danzo.

Naruto drags Sasuke back to their room. He had to figure out what made the darker haired lion snap like that. It wasn't normal.

"Sasuke, you wanna tell me what that was all about?" He asks.

"It reminded me of what used to happen to me when I was a cub. I wasn't going to let a human beat another hybrid with me watching. So I hurt him first." Sasuke says.

Naruto sighs. His eyes soften. God only know what had happened to his almost lover as a cub. Damn.

"It's okay now. You helped him. He's not going to touch you. I promise." The blonde murmurs.

"I know he won't. I'll fucking kill him if he tries it." Sasuke says.

"Was it just hitting?" Naruto asks warily.

"Hitting, deprivation of all sorts, solitary confinement, medical experiments, the list goes on. The only thing that I never let the sick fucks do was TOUCH me. If they tried that, I made sure they were sent to the emergency room before they got far." He admits.

"Shit. Sasuke. I knew you had to fight in the Arena, but damn. I can't believe you went through all that. How are you still sane?" The blonde asks.

' I stayed sane out of spite. I wasn't going to let them break me. Most hybrids went insane after awhile. They tended to kamikaze in the ring or just stop eating. They got new hybrids all the time. So if someone ended up dying, they just replaced them easily enough." He answers.

"You're safe here. You know that right?" Naruto murmurs and caresses the other hybrid's cheek.

"I know." He says and kisses the palm of Naruto's hand.

"Good. I will kill that fucker myself if he so much as looks at you the wrong way." The blue eyed hybrid promises him.

"I know. Naruto?" He says uncertainly.

"Yeah?" He replies.

"I love you. I want you to know that." Sasuke tells him.

"I love you too. So fucking much, but I don't want you to say that because you are scared." Naruto warns him.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive." Sasuke admits.

"Sasuke." He says warningly.

"Would you prefer I lie?" The other lion asks.

"No…but I don't want you scared. I'll protect you." He promises.

"I'm not a damsel in distress." Sasuke states.

"I know. But you are in distress. God, I want to kill that asshole. I wish I had found you sooner." Naruto says and kisses his forehead.

"You found me. That's what matters." Sasuke says with a smile.

"Yeah and I'm never letting go." He says.

"Good. I don't want you to." Sasuke admits.

"Good because that definitely wasn't negotiable. Come on. Your fine ass needs to get some sleep." He says and lays on the bed, pulling Sasuke against him.

"Yeah." He says with a sigh and snuggles into him.

Naruto watches as Sasuke closes his eyes. Eventually the other man's breathing evens out. The blonde knew that he was asleep. Naruto sighs. Damn. He hated what his soon to be mate had been through. He couldn't do anything about it either.

"I can't wait to watch Danzo explain his new tattoo." He smirks to himself.

That was a consolation prize at least. Sasuke had some wicked claws, it seemed. It was sorta a given. It was part of the reason why the other man had survived long enough to be rescued. Still served that son of a bitch right.


	11. Chapter 11

You're Mine

Author's Note: Sorry this one is a bit late. Thank you for all the reviews. They are working again. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter.

Chapter Notation: Lemon. They are lion hybrids. So the lemon is rougher than I usually write. :P But Sasuke is going to be okay. He likes it on the wild side.

Chapter 11

 _"I love you. I want you to know that."_ Naruto heard Sasuke say.

He'd said it! Sasuke had actually said it! That had to make them mates now right?

The blonde couldn't resist caressing his sleeping beloved. He'd never understand how someone so beautiful could have survived in such an ugly place like _The Arena_ for so long. Well he knew intellectually how.

Sasuke was massive, even by lion standards. There were very few lion nekos who could boast they were bigger than the dark furred lion in animal form, Naruto was amongst them. He apparently had wicked claws. Naruto didn't think that Danzo's scars would ever fade. He was strong, fast, and smart. He also had all of Naruto's heart.

"You're still fighting, even in your dreams." He mutters sadly, watching Sasuke's body tense up and his lips curl back in a snarl.

 _Sasuke snarls and lunges at his opponent. This time it was an insect type. A Killer Bee. He knew that he had to take him down. That stinger would kill him with one shot. There was no time for anything else._

 _"You sure like to throw your weight around. But that won't save you this time." The Bee said and dodges._

 _Sasuke goes flying straight into the cement floor of the Arena. He coppery taste filled his mouth. Sasuke realized that it was blood. Damn it. That wasn't good. Usually whoever drew First Blood won. Not this time though._

 _Sasuke got up and roared with all his might. He slammed his full body weight onto the Bee, stunning him, and ripped his throat out. Blood. Blood splattered everywhere._

 _For a moment, it felt like Sasuke's body and soul disconnected. He watched in a detached sort of way as the concrete was stained red with blood and the Bee died choking. He didn't even see the stinger coming until it was too late. The Bee was going to die, but he had decided to take Sasuke with him._

 _Sasuke awoke days later. He was in a hospital. There was a woman, talking to Kabuto. She was beautiful, obviously human. He guessed her to be in her early thirties._

 _"That is quite the generous offer, Mei. I will have to speak to Orochimaru about it. Are you certain though? Sasuke has been raised as a fighter, not as a pet. He could hurt you." Kabuto warns._

 _"Oh I'm sure the boy just needs some tender, love, and care. Besides, such a warrior. Such a handsome face. You say that he's never bedded another hybrid? Perhaps he just prefers humans." She suggests._

 _"Actually…we are almost certain that he prefers men." Kabuto says._

 _"Nonsense." She replies._

 _Sasuke felt like screaming. He felt like throwing up. There was no way he was going to be someone's sex toy. That was even worse than being in the Arena. He'd rather die than be someone's love slave._

 _Somehow he convinced Orochimaru to keep him. He never thought he'd fight to STAY there. But it was better. At least in the Arena he could die with dignity._

"No!" He wakes with a snarl.

"Sasuke, calm down. You were just dreaming." Naruto says.

"It wasn't a dream. It was a memory." He mutters.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The blonde asks softly, stroking his face.

"No." Sasuke says and shakes his head.

"That's alright. If you ever do, I'm here. I'll always be here." He says and kisses Sasuke's forehead.

Naruto tilts his head. Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes were aglow with determination instead of filled with fear. The dark haired lion had made some sort of decision. Probably an important one.

"Sasuke what is it?" The blue eyed hybrid asks and then finds himself laying on his back.

"I want it to be you." He declares and kisses the blonde heatedly.

Naruto had never seen Sasuke like this before. So…aggressive. He felt a white hot wave of lust hit him hard as he kissed back. There was no doubt in his mind what Sasuke meant by THAT.

"You sure?" He asks breaking the kiss and Sasuke nods.

"Naruto, are you a lion or mouse hybrid? Are you going to lay there all night asking dumb questions or are you going to fuck me?" Sasuke demands in to know in a cocky voice.

"Fuck, you have a mouth on you. Don't call it that. It's more than just that to me and I know it is to you." He murmurs as he captures Sasuke's lips in a bruising kiss to "punish" Sasuke for his dirty mouth.

 **Warning Lemon**

Sasuke groans into the kiss and wraps his legs around Naruto tightly. The blonde let out a dark purr of approval when their lower halves brushed against each other. His soon to be lover was making love to his mouth, his tongue exploring every inch and lips capturing Sasuke's in such a deliciously possessive way that the darker hybrid felt light headed.

"I've wanted this for so long. Now that it's finally happening, I can't decide what I want to do first." Naruto breaks the kiss to growl at him lustfully, his eyes darker than usual with desire.

"Hard and fast. I want you to fuck me so hard, I can't think straight." Sasuke tells him.

"What did I say about that mouth of yours?" Naruto asks as he starts stripping Sasuke slowly as if he was some precious gift he was unwrapping with great care.

"Not to call it that. But it's not like you are actually going to do anything about it. Besides, what's wrong with a little dirty talking?" He asks and looks up at Naruto with lidded eyes.

"It makes me want to do things to you that I shouldn't. You haven't done this before, Sasuke. I don't want to hurt you." He murmurs and places kisses along the darker haired man's chest.

"Naruto if you don't man up and fuck me like the animal that I know you are, I will just take you instead." Sasuke says and rolls over, so he pins Naruto.

The blonde's face was towards the pillow. He squirms a bit. He didn't know whether to be excited or afraid of this sudden change. Sasuke drags his claws over Naruto's clothes, tearing them in half.

"You really aren't used to bottoming. I can tell. You have goosebumps everywhere." Sasuke murmurs and kisses the back of Naruto's neck, his hands gliding everywhere, exploring.

"Dammit, Sasuke. You deserve to be treated gently, after everything that happened to you." Naruto growls.

"I don't want fucking gentle." Sasuke growls back in irritation.

"You sure about that? I'm not going to be able to stop once I start." He warns him.

"I'm sure. I want to be able to feel you. I want to know that you're real. That you're here with me. That you aren't going to leave." Sasuke says in a whisper.

"Sasuke…" Naruto murmurs and soon reverses their position.

"Finally." He says.

"I'm going to let you up. Then I want you get off the bed and strip." Naruto says in a commanding voice.

"Alright." Sasuke agrees.

Naruto smiles. He lets Sasuke up and watches. God, there was just something incredibly erotic about how compliant Sasuke was being with his demands. He licked his lips as he watched Sasuke slowly slide his shirt off. He was teasing him, Naruto decided. He was enjoying the show too much to care.

He growls with approval and his tail swishes in anticipation. God, he was beautiful. That ivory cream skin and those sleek muscles. Sasuke seemed to realize Naruto was enjoying the show so he starts to slowly slide out of his pants.

"Tease." Naruto growls.

"You like it though." Sasuke says.

"Love it. But if you don't lose the boxers, you aren't going to be able to walk for a fucking week." He warns him, voice dripping with lust.

Sasuke shivers. That's what he wanted. Maybe it was messed up. But he felt safer when Naruto was in control. The blonde clearly knew what he was doing.

The Uchiha wasn't an idiot. He knew that Naruto had had other lovers. Their scents were no longer on him though. So he knew that his blue eyed mate had been faithful to him since their strange relationship began. That was all that mattered.

"Now." Naruto growls and Sasuke quickly complies.

"Guess we found your kink." Naruto murmurs, walking over to Sasuke, and stand standing behind him.

"My kink?" He asks.

"Yeah. Something that turns you on. You like being bossed around. Works for me." Naruto says, pulling Sasuke's back against his chest and stroking him the other hand.

"Nhhh!" Sasuke says and leans back against him.

Naruto smirks and kisses his neck as he continues petting the other hybrid. The blonde would never get over the sounds Sasuke was capable of making. He grinds his own arousal against the other man, wanting more contact.

"Isn't this better than being a cocktease?" He growls into his ear, nibbling.

"M-uch." Sasuke pants out and thrusts frantically into the blonde's hand.

"Suck." He says placing one of his hands by Sasuke's mouth.

"I don't get it." He says and tilts his head.

"That wasn't a request." Naruto says and slaps Sasuke's ass.

This prompts a yip from his lover. But he begins sucking on his fingers. Naruto knew that this was Sasuke's first time. Whether he liked it rough or not, he was going to need prepared. The blonde groans imagining Sasuke's mouth on something bigger than his fingers.

"That should do it. Get on your hands and knees on the floor." He tells him.

This time Sasuke knew what Naruto meant. He gets on his hands and knees. Naruto soon leans over him.

"God, you're beautiful. This is probably going to feel awkward at first. It might hurt a bit. But it's better to do this first. Trust me, you don't want to not be stretched." He tells Sasuke.

"I'm not beautiful. For the FINAL time, I am a man." Sasuke says.

"Bad, Sasuke." Naruto says and slaps his ass.

"Owe!" He says.

"Don't argue with me." Naruto informs him and spreads Sasuke's legs apart.

"Alri-ght." He says.

"Just relax." He murmurs, kisses Sasuke's shoulder, and slides a single digit inside him.

Sasuke squirms. It felt…odd. It wasn't painful exactly. But strange. Naruto decided to distract his soon to be lover by rubbing him in his hand. Sasuke groans.

"That's better." He says and starts moving it inside him.

"AHHHH!" Sasuke cries out when Naruto hit something inside him that made him feel GOOD.

"So that's where your spot is. Got it." He says and adds another digit, stretching him.

"Th-at feels good now." Sasuke whines, bucking into him.

"Good. You're so fucking tight." Naruto growls approvingly.

"Is that a good thing?" He asks.

"To me it is. This is probably going to hurt at first. But I promise it will feel very good, soon." He says and slides into his lover.

Shit! Sasuke thrashes underneath Naruto wildly. It was too big! Naruto bites down on Sasuke's shoulder, a way of asserting dominance and telling him to stop fighting him. He licks the mark soothingly.

This was fucking bliss. Naruto had had other lovers before. But none of had felt so good! So hot, so tight. It was like Sasuke was made for him. He starts thrusting slowly, giving Sasuke time to adjust.

His every instinct was telling him just to fuck the beautiful male into the rug. But he knew that if he did that, he'd risk hurting Sasuke. He wanted Sasuke to crave his touch, not shy away from it.

"You're holding back." Sasuke says.

"I am letting you get used to it." Naruto murmurs.

"I told you that I didn't want gentle. Take me like a lion or I will find someone who will." Sasuke threatens.

Naruto actually snarls at this. Sasuke gulps. Maybe he'd gone a little too far with that one. He felt Naruto grab his hips and bite his shoulders, to lock him in place.

"Naruto, I didn't ac-tually mean it." Sasuke says.

"No one else is EVER going to fucking touch you. Do you hear me, beautiful? YOU. ARE. MINE." He snarls and slams into him, with such a ferocity it took Sasuke's breath away.

Naruto seemed to have found out where Sasuke's spot was. Because he slams into it again and again. Sasuke roars in pleasure and a bit of pain as the rug scraps his knee and Naruto's teeth sink into his neck, his claws on his back. But it felt so fucking good.

"I said did you hear me?" Naruto growls and slams into him between every annunciated word.

"Y-ES!" Sasuke pants out.

"Good." Naruto purrs with dark approval as he drives into Sasuke harder and faster, stroking his lover to the edge.

"Nnnn-aruto I'm going to cum." Sasuke growls.

"So am I and you are going to be a good kitten and take all of it." He says, licking the back of Sasuke's neck, reveling in his unique taste as he makes one final powerful thrust, and spills his release into the man underneath him.

Sasuke screams Naruto's name as he cums hard. Fuck! It was a white hot pleasure. It was so intense. He almost passed out.

 **End Lemon**

"You really shouldn't make me jealous like that." Naruto says, nuzzling him.

"It worked though." Sasuke says smugly.

"Mmm I'll take a few days off. I don't think you are going to be able to walk after that for awhile." Naruto murmurs.

"Maybe not. It was worth it though." Sasuke purrs at him.

"Are you some kind of Masochist?" Naruto asks.

"No. I just…needed you. I needed to feel you." Sasuke whispers.

"Was it that bad?" The blonde questions.

"Memory. I was almost sold as a pet. Though sex slave would have been a more accurate description." The dark haired lion mutters in disgust.

"I'd never let that happen." His lover promises him.

"I know." Sasuke says with a smile and laces his fingers with Naruto's.

"I mean as sexy as Hell as it is to just pound you into the floor…I can be gentle. You know? I don't want you to think that I can't go slow. If that's what you want." Naruto tells him.

"Maybe we can do slow next time." Sasuke says.

"Yeah. Next time." He agrees with a smile.

"Mhm." Sasuke says with a yawn and stretches.

"Wore you out, huh?" Naruto asks.

"Maybe a little." Sasuke admits.

"Let's get that sexy ass of yours into bed." Naruto says, scooping up Sasuke in his arms, laying down on the bed, and pulling Sasuke flush against him.

Meanwhile Danzo was in the infirmary. DAMN HIM. Fuck. He'd been branded. He'd have to wear a headband or something to cover up Sasuke's claw marks. He should have had that cat skinned alive while he was under the influence of the tranquilizer darts.

Now, Naruto knew. Which meant he was going to tell Tsunade. He'd have to come up with a defense. He could try to claim that Sasuke had simply mistaken him for someone else. The boy's mind was fragile with his PTSD after all. He might be able to get away with it.

"Boss, Orochimaru wants to speak with you about something. He says it's urgent." One of his loyal minions says.

"Of course." Danzo says and heads to Orochimaru's cell.

"What is it?" He demands.

"They've set my trial for next week. Why are you wearing a headband?" Orochimaru asks and raises an eyebrow at the unusual fashion choice for the elderly man.

"Sasuke decided to carve the word buyer into my head with his claws. I had to hide it somehow." He replies in a huff.

"Hmm the kitten has gotten quite feisty. That's not something you are going to be able to cover up indefinitely. What will you do?" The Sanin asks.

"I will try to play it off to a case of mistaken identity. He suffers from PTSD. I might be able to paint him as merely being a victim of a fragile mind and perhaps some plastic surgery." He says.

"No one is going to want to operate on a man your age." The darker haired man points out.

"Oh they will. You merely have to pay them enough and that will overcome any of their concerns." He replies.

"Good point. Can you get me out of here?" Orochimaru pleads.

"I'm sorry. I am going to have enough trouble covering my own tracks. I can't save both of our asses. It was…interesting knowing you. But I'm afraid you have become a liability. Nothing personal." Danzo says as he walks away.

"WAIT YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE!" He rages.

"I can and I will." Danzo states and walks out of the room.

Meanwhile Kisame was in Danzo's office. He sacked the place and stole all his papers. Itachi would be able to sort through this shit. Kisame was a thief, not a detective.

"There's my pretty kitty." Kisame says with a smile when he finds his lover.

"I thought we discussed that reprehensible nickname?" Itachi says, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh I think you'll get over it when you see what I got you." Kisame says.

"What'd you get?" Itachi questions him.

"All of Danzo's papers." He says smugly.

"Kisame, you are a genius." Itachi says and he starts looking through them.

"Anything in there that you can use?" He asks hopefully.

"He coded it well. But I can crack it. This is brilliant. This is more than enough to get him locked away for life. Pity he's so old though." Itachi says with a sigh and his eyes widen as he reads more and more of the truly twisted things that Danzo was involved in.

There wasn't a single illegal activity that he wasn't involved in, as far as Itachi could tell. Love slaves, fighting rings, drugs, bribes of government officials, theft, and everything else one could think of. Damn.

"He's been quite busy." Itachi states dryly.

"Yeah. Looks like it." His shark lover says.

The next day, Naruto wakes early. He smiles at Sasuke and places a kiss on his forehead. Then he leaves a note for his lover, before departing.

He had work to do. Naruto wasn't aware of all of Sasuke's past. But he knew enough about it to realize that because of Orochimaru, Sasuke had been put through Hell. Therefore one thing was perfectly clear. He had to pay. No one hurt his lover and got away with it. The thought of Sasuke having to fight for his life everyday or being a sex slave, made his blood boil with rage.

"You're Orochimaru?" Naruto asks.

"Yes, I am. So you're Sasuke's pet. Hmm I never would have thought he'd be into blondes." The older man muses.

"I'm going to request to be the one to deliver your punishment. We all know you are guilty. You aren't getting out of a sentence. I'm going to enjoy ripping you apart and whatever is left, I'll give to Sasuke as a chew toy." Naruto snarls.

"Awe. That's adorable. The pretty little kitten wants to avenge his lover. Tell me, does Sasuke know you are here? Perhaps he wouldn't take too kindly to you fighting his battles. He is after all a warrior. That's how I raised him." Orochimaru sneers at him.

"YOU DIDN'T RAISE HIM. YOU FUCKING TORTURED HIM!" Naruto snarls.

"Oh I never tortured him. Well I threw him against the wall a few times as a cub. Oh and I might have made him go without food or water for a few days at a time when he was naughty. There was also the sleep deprivation. Surely, you don't count the Arena as me personally torturing him. Actually, on second thought…I suppose I did." He says with a shrug.

"I'm going to tear you apart." Naruto growls darkly.

"We both know you won't do anything until the trial." Orochimaru says.

"Don't fucking tempt me." The blonde says.

Meanwhile, Sasuke wakes up. He frowns when he sees Naruto wasn't next to him. But he sees the note.

 **Dear Sasuke,**

 **I had a couple errands to run. I'll be back soon. Last night was amazing. I love you.**

 **Yours always, Naruto.**

He smiles and holds the note to his chest. Then he winces. Alright maybe provoking the very well endowed lion hadn't been his brightest idea. But it had been worth it.

That whole grabbing a tiger by his tail thing, it also applied to lions. Damn Naruto was possessive, Sasuke thought to himself. But he loved it. Naruto loved him and if he ever doubted it, the passion that Naruto had shown him last night proved it.


	12. Chapter 12

You're Mine

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. This is the grand finale. I figured everyone would want some justice and cuteness. ^^ Feel free to check out my other stories, if you liked this one. I have yaoi, straight, and gender bends. So there should be something for almost everyone.

Chapter Notation: Yes, fear the cuteness! We have lots of baby hybrids running around in this chapter. I don't know if that's true about combining sperm in such a fashion. But since this is a story about hybrids, I think that it's safe to say the have some pretty advanced technology. So anything is possible. No male pregnancy in this story, just surrogates/invitro.

Chapter Twelve

Naruto heads back to Sasuke. He couldn't wait to wait to have the darker lion back in his arms. He sighed, Naruto knew he was going to have to talk to Sasuke about Danzo. It was inevitable now. He wasn't looking forward to it though. Sasuke was already emotionally fragile at the moment. He hated to add more to it.

"Hey, Sasuke. I'm back." He calls out cheerfully.

"Hey." The other hybrid calls out.

The blonde smiles. Sasuke was still laying on their bed. He knew that Sasuke hated when he called the other man pretty or beautiful, but it was the truth.

Facts were facts. Sasuke should really consider a career in modeling. Actually, scratch that. Naruto didn't' want anyone else to look at Sasuke besides him in THAT way.

He looked so gorgeous laying there underneath the white blankets and with his dark hair against the pillow. His face was still had a rosy tint to it from their actions last night and his eyes ruby red. To Naruto he might as well have been wearing a sign that said, _Take Me. I'm Yours._

"You waited for me." Naruto muses.

"Sorta. Mostly I…" He trails off.

"Was I too rough? Did I hurt you?" The other lion asks his eyes suddenly full with concern.

"You were rough. But that's how I wanted it. You were amazing. Still I think it might be better if I just spent the day lounging in bed. Bit sore. But in a good way." Sasuke reassures him quickly, not wanting Naruto to feel guilty for giving Sasuke what he wanted.

"Alright. If you're sure." He says.

"Positive." The Uchiha agrees.

"I'll just stay here with you and take care of you then." The blonde says and gets in bed next to Sasuke, pulling him into his arms.

"Good. I like the sound of that." Sasuke says with a smile.

"Sasuke, there's something we have to talk about." Naruto says.

"I know." He admits and leans into his lover.

"About Danzo." The blonde tells him.

"I lost my temper. I just couldn't bare to see it happen again." He mutters.

"Bare to see what happen again?" He asks.

"Another hybrid beaten to death." He answers in a whisper and his eyes darkened, clearly he was reliving a traumatic memory.

 _He had been at that vile place only for a few months. Sasuke had found comfort from another lion hybrid. She was a female and a white lion hybrid to boot. A white lioness was rare. He was surprised that she hadn't been killed for her fur to be honest._

 _Arianna was the closest substitute he could find for his mother. Her fur was soft and warm. He cuddled into it while in his animal form. She had lost a cub last year. Maybe that was why she took pity on him. He never asked. Sasuke was too afraid to risk upsetting the one person at this horrid place who seemed to care about him._

 _"They will teach you how to fight though. While you are in the lower divisions, you can lose and still live. But once you make it to the upper division, it will always be to the death. You must be strong here, if you want to survive." She told him._

 _"I'll be strong. I'll get big so I can protect you." He promised._

 _"That's sweet, Sasuke. You are such a sweet cub. But I'm afraid that isn't how this works. It's not like the wild where the pride male protects the lionesses." She said and cleaned his coat._

 _Arianna taught him many things. If it wasn't for her, he probably wouldn't have survived. Then one day, Orochimaru told him that he was going to join the "Adult Division." Sasuke had only been eight at the time._

 _"NO! He's too little! He'll never survive." Arianna protested._

 _"This is not up for debate." Orochimaru informed her._

 _"No! I won't let you. He's not ready." She said and lunged at him._

 _That's when Orochimaru bashed her over the head with a club. It didn't kill her. But Sasuke heard the sickening crack of bones breaking. He rushed over to try to help her._

 _Sasuke snarled at Orochimaru, baring his teeth. The little cub stood between the human and lioness. Orochimaru seemed more amused by this than anything._

 _"Here my word is law. Never argue with me or you will end up like her. Oh well I suppose I can always get a good price for her fur coat. The blood will wash out." He told Sasuke._

 _"No! Leave her alone." Sasuke said and he bite the snake like man as her as he could with his fangs._

 _Orochimaru smacked him so hard, that he saw stars. He was thrown against the wall and dazed. He tried to get up. He wanted to help her so desperately, but he felt woozy._

 _He didn't know it at the time, but he had a concussion and one of his paws had been broken when he was thrown. Still, he tried to his best to save her. But the club kept slamming down on Arianna. She was beaten to death. By the end of the night, her beautiful white fur was stained red with blood._

 _Sasuke hated Orochimaru. He hated him more than he had ever hated anyone. He vowed never to let it happen again. A vow that he would one day keep, when he protected Sai._

"Do you want to talk about it?" Naruto asks, holding Sasuke closer.

"No." The darker haired hybrid manages to choke out the one world reply and his lover wipes away a tear from his eye.

"Don't worry. Whatever happened there, won't happen here." He assures him.

"It's still happening somewhere." Sasuke muttered and leaned into his mate.

"I know. But we do our best to stop it. We'll save others, just like we saved you." Naruto nuzzles him lovingly.

"I know." He says and offers Naruto a small smile.

Meanwhile Itachi and Kisame were heading to Tsunade's office, with the documents. Kisame was far from subtle. If Itachi knew his mate, he had probably trashed Danzo's office. The buyer would realize what had happened the moment he set foot in his office. This mean that time was off the essence.

Of course, Kisame was Kisame. He had what Itachi considered to be a wall fetish. The shark hybrid loved to shove him against walls and steal kisses. And sometimes far more than that. Normally this was a kink that the lion hybrid was more than happy to indulge. But they had to get moving. Honestly, for a shark hybrid, Kisame sure liked to screw like bunnies a lot.

"Kisame, first we show Tsunade these documents. THEN I will make sure to satisfy you." He murmurs.

"Sorry, there's just something about your tail swishing when you walk ahead of me and you against a wall." The blue skin man admits.

"We all have our triggers. Come, my love." He says and heads to Tsunade's office with his mate.

"Kisame, Itachi…what are you doing here?" Tsunade asks when Kisame rudely kicks in the door.

"My apologies, but you must see this." He says and hands her the papers, waiting to see her reaction.

"Let me see." She says and her eyes widen as she reads them.

"Yes, seems the old coot has been a very naughty boy." Kisame says.

"It does seem that way." The busty blonde agrees.

"Can you get him convicted?" Itachi asks.

"Yes, with this I certainly can. You should tell your brother the good news. I am certain he will be most pleased to hear it." She says.

"We will." Itachi promises as they leave.

It didn't take long for the news to spread like wildfire. Danzo and Orochimaru were going on trial. The courtroom was overflowing with people who had come to see it.

"Orochimaru, you stand accused of running an illegal hybrid fighting ring. Various crimes committed while you ran it include the buying and selling of hybrids, beating them, starving them, and forced breeding. How do you plead?" Jirayia asks him.

"I'm innocent. This is all the result of a misunderstanding." He says.

"Very well. Orochimaru wants to contest his innocence. A lawyer has been provided for him. Danzo, you have been accused of the buying and selling of hybrids, attempted assault against Sai, involvement in the sex trade, gambling, protection rackets, and the selling of drugs. How do you plead?" The white haired man asks.

"Guilty. But my business ventures helped to fund this enterprise. Without me, this would have been little more than an SPCA for large animals." He states.

Danzo rolls his eyes. Really they were so ungrateful. Without him Konoha would be nothing. But they were fools. They couldn't see that. How blind and stupid could they possibly be?

Snarls and howls of outrage are heard. The hybrids were not happy to hear that. They also realized that Danzo had been selling and buying their kin for what seemed to be a long time. They weren't going to let him get away with this.

"QUIET. I will have order in the court. Well since you plead guilty, normally I'd say lock you up and throw away the key. However, given your advanced age…" Jirayia begins to say.

"YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY BE THINKING OF LETTING HIM GET AWAY WITH ALL THIS BECAUSE HE'S OLD!" There were roars of protests.

"I was not finished. I was going to say that the punishment should fit the crime. As it was Sai that he tried to assault, I believe it is only fitting that Sai can carry out his death sentence." The older man states.

Cheers erupt. The hybrids were certainly happy to her that. Danzo tries to bolt. He wasn't going to die! He certainly wasn't going to be killed by some filthy animal!

BANG! BANG! BANG! Three shots rang out. Sai had taken out a gun and fired them off. Jirayia had given him permission after all. Why wait? The bastard could rot in Hell where he belonged. Finally, Sai had avenged his dearly beloved, dead brother. It had taken years, but he had done it.

"Sai! How did you smuggle a gun in here?!" Jirayia demands to know and was more than a little anxious at the knowledge such a thing had happened without him knowing about it.

"I hid it in my pants." He says with a creepy fake smile.

"…For future reference, to not fire a gun into a crowded room like that. It is fortunate you are a good shot. You could have killed someone else on accident." He warns him.

"I am an excellent shot. I was taught when I was a foal. But of course I will do as you ask." He agrees as if it was perfectly normal to kill someone and for Sai…it probably was.

Sasuke wasn't sure. It happened so fast. But he thought he saw a smirk on Sai's lips on Danzo breathed his last.

The trial goes on for hours. Going through Orochimaru's every sin took most of the day. His lawyer to his defense, did try. But there was just no way to get Orochimaru out of this. He'd also been awarded the death penalty.

"I want to do it. If Sai got to kill Danzo, it's my right." Sasuke says.

"Sasuke…" Naruto says, taking his lover's hand.

"I can do this." Sasuke assures him.

"Very well." Jirayia says.

"He doesn't deserve a quick death. Not after what he did to Arianna." He hisses.

"Who is Arianna?" Naruto asks.

"A hybrid that he killed in cold blood. She tried to protect me from him." Sasuke says and shifts to his lion form.

Sasuke lunges at Orochimaru and drags him off in his jaws. The black lion takes him outside. Soon there are screams of agony and pleads for mercy. Naruto stops anyone from going outside. He figured Sasuke probably wouldn't want an audience during his revenge.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time the screams stopped. Naruto cautiously heads outside to meet with his love. There wasn't much of Orochimaru let. Sasuke had literally ripped him apart with his jaws and claws. The ground was covered in blood. So was Sasuke's beautiful black fur.

"Sasuke?" He asks warily.

He'd never seen the other lion like this. He looked so lethal. He'd always known that Sasuke was a killer. But knowing that and seeing it were two different things.

"It's finally over." Sasuke says and promptly passes out.

"Sasuke!" Naruto says and rushes over to his lover's side.

 **Two Years Later**

Sasuke was fine. He had just been overwhelmed by everything he was feeling and passed out. He later woke in Naruto's arms. Now two years later, he smiles in his animal form and licks an adorable black furball.

Yes, they were both males. Neither Naruto or Sasuke could carry a cub naturally. But science could be a beautiful thing.

They had found a willing surrogate and had their sperm implanted into her. It was apparently possible to combine it in a way that would ensure traits from both of them would make it to the offspring. This fact made both lions very happy.

"She's beautiful. Just like you." Naruto murmurs in awe, laying next to his mate's side.

She was another lion hybrid. Sasuke had preferred this. Honestly, it didn't really matter what species the surrogate was. But the Uchiha was a little paranoid about such things. He wanted it to be as close a natural pregnancy and birth as possible.

"For the final time, I'm not beautiful. But yes, she is." Sasuke says looking down at their daughter with pride.

Besides, Naruto didn't really care and they had found a willing lioness easily enough. Naruto was considered one of Konoha's best officers and Sasuke was something of a local legend now for taking out Orochimaru. So the lioness had gotten quite a bit of prestige for being their surrogate.

"Yes, you are. The most beautiful man that I've ever seen." Naruto teases him by biting down lightly on his furry neck.

"Whatever." Sasuke says and leans into the attention.

"What should we name her?" He asks.

"Arianna. If it wasn't for her, I never would have survived to adulthood." He murmurs.

"I like that. Arianna. She has your beautiful black silky fur. She's going to be a heartbreaker in a few years." Naruto murmurs.

"And your big blue eyes. I feel sorry for the boys or…girls, depending on what she prefers." Sasuke mutters and cleans their daughter with his large, rough tongue.

"I WANT TO SEE MY GRANDBABY!" Kushina says and rushes inside.

Arianna was clearly startled by the loud noise and cries. Sasuke wraps his large paw around her reassuringly. Naruto gives her a loving bath to soothe her. This seems to pacify the little lioness because she stops crying and snuggles into her parents' warmth.

"Dear, don't scream like that. You don't want to scare her." Minato says and follows.

"Oh right! Sorry. I'm just so excited. My first grand cub!" The red head says.

"OUR first grand cub." Minato corrects her.

"Right. Right. Awe she's adorable. Look she's got Naruto's eyes!" She gushes and goes to see her.

Arianna blinks. She looks up at the red headed woman. Who was she? And there was another man…he looked like one of her daddies. Who were these people?

"I would like to see my granddaughter as well." Mikoto says and walks inside with a soft smile, along with Fugaku.

Arianna blinks. So many people! This one looked like her other daddy. She looks up at them all in confusion.

"And my nephew." Itachi adds, as he heads into the room with Kisame, carrying Kovu.

Kovu was a year older than his cousin. He had turned out to be a blue furred lion with Itachi's smoky gray eyes. He was only a cub but could swim as well as he could crawl.

"Told you. The whole lot of your family are pretty kitties." Kisame taunts Itachi, causing the Uchiha brothers to promptly flip him off.

"ITACHI! SASUKE!" Mikoto says scandalized.

"It's not as if the children understand what the gesture means." They both say.

"Told you so." Naruto says smugly.

"Oh shut up." Sasuke says rolling his eyes.

Kovu is set down and decides to investigate. This other person was like him! She was little too! Finally, someone smaller than him. He waddles over to Arianna.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. He's still only got his baby teeth. They can't hurt each other." Itachi assures him when he saw Sasuke looked a little uncertain about this.

"Good." He says.

Arianna blinks and looks at Kovu. Hmm she bats at his nose with her paw. He bats right back. The two of them wiggle around with each other.

"That's adorable." Naruto says.

"Yeah." Sasuke agrees and watches with a smile.

"Itachi's genes." Kisame says.

"I don't know. You can be adorable when you want to be." Itachi muses.

"Only for you." He says and kisses the top of his mate's head.

Just then a white furry baby elephant stumbles in. He was soon followed by his parents, Jugo and Hinata. Sasuke still had no idea how a fucking elephant and rabbit type had a baby. But then again, Itachi had jumped a shark. Literally. He snickers at this pun.

"What's so funny?" Itachi asks.

"Just thinking that you jumped the shark." His younger brother tells him.

"Haha. Oh very funny. Foolish little brother." Itachi says, rolls his eyes, and smiles fondly at Sasuke.

Arianna and Kovu were fascinated by the furry white elephant. They weren't sure if he was like them or not. Arianna stares at him with wide blue eyes. Kovu pounces playfully and tries to entice the gentle giant into the pouncing game. He was bigger than Arianna. More of a challenge.

"God their cute." Sasuke mutters.

"And they'll never have to go through what you did." Naruto promises.

"Good." Sasuke says and snuggles into his mate.

"I love you." Naruto says.

"I love you too." He says with a smile and nuzzles him under the chin.

' "And I'm so glad your fine ass is mine." He says playfully whacking it with his tail.

"NARUTO! You can't do stuff like that with the kids and our families right there!" He cries out.

"I just did. Sorry. It's your own fault for being so beautiful." He says smugly.

"What did I say about calling me that?!" Sasuke growls.

"Not to do it. Sorry, kitten. It's true." He says and darts off, laughing.

Sasuke growls and bounds after his mate. This was much to Shisui's amusement. He calls out some helpful tips to Sasuke. By now everyone was laughing at Naruto and Sasuke's antics, while fawning over the cubs.

"That's it, Uzumaki." Sasuke growls and pounces.

"Ah alone at last." Naruto says and shifts to his human form.

"Did you really just pull my tail like that to get us alone for sex?" He asks in disbelief.

"Yes, yes I did. It worked, didn't it?" He asks smugly.

"Can't argue with the results." Sasuke says and his tail swishes in amusement.

"Wanna try out those fuzzy handcuffs?" The blonde asks.

"Alright. But you are the one who is getting cuffed." Sasuke informs him.

"God I love you. It's so cute when you act all tough." Naruto says.

"Who is acting?" Sasuke says.

"I know that deep down you enjoy being my lovable sex kitten." He says, drawing a blush from Sasuke.

"Pervert!" He growls.

"You like it though." Naruto says with a big smile and gets out the cuffs.

"That's true." Sasuke admits.

"And you're mine now and forever." The blonde says.

"Always and you are mine." Sasuke says, silencing his cheeky lover with a passionate kiss before they spent the rest of the night in each other's arms.


End file.
